MANILA, Philippines?They couldn?t have picked a more appropriate setting.

Amid a backdrop of sun and sand on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea Monday agreed to develop their respective fishing industries jointly and further maximize their potential as members of the Coral Triangle in the region.

The agreement was contained in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed after a bilateral meeting between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and visiting Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare at the newly opened Shangri-La Resort and Spa on Boracay island.

The MOU identifies at least 13 areas of cooperation, including ?training and technology transfer in areas of small scale fishing, ecosystem approaches to ocean management, and fisheries trade and promotion.?

Both countries also agreed to jointly combat ?illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing practices? and to consult regularly on mutual concerns on the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI).

The CTI was created in 2007 as a multilateral effort to protect marine and coastal resources of the Coral Triangle, an ?extraordinary area holding the richest concentration of iridescent corals, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and marine plants in the world,? according to the World Wildlife Fund website.

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste are also part of the triangle.

In a separate interview with the media on Boracay, Ms Arroyo blamed the Senate for the delay in the passage of a bill appropriating P8 billion for the rehabilitation of areas damaged by Typhoon ?Frank? last year, and another, on the titling of lands on the island.

Western Visayas officials earlier said the delay in the release of funds had put on hold much-needed repairs to infrastructure and the dredging of heavily silted waterways.

A bill on land titling approved by the House of Representatives last year, on the other hand, remains pending in the Senate committee on natural resources chaired by Sen. Jamby Madrigal.

Aimed at declaring 626.59 hectares of the 1,032-hectare Boracay island as public domain, the bill would allow occupants of land on the island to be issued a free patent for up to 12 hectares if they continuously occupied their lots for at least 30 years. Christian V. Esguerra; Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas