Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Pablito A. Mendoza witnesses the signing of the Contribution Agreement between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) for the National Copernicus Capacity Support Action Programme for the Philippines (CopPhil), held at the sidelines of the 15th European Space Conference from 24 to 25 January 2023 in Brussels.

With the signing of the agreement, the ESA will implement the Copernicus programme in the Philippines, making it the first country in Southeast Asia and the second in the world with such an agreement.

The CopPhil will be supported by €10M from EU bilateral development cooperation and will allow for better earth observation activities in areas such as disaster risk management, climate adaptation, and atmosphere monitoring.