The day before, at the fifth session of the Joint Commission on Bilateral Affairs, Manalo and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar expressed their interest in continuing defense cooperation through regular or increased official-level interaction and the opening of an attaché’s office. in Manila.
India’s offer to the Philippines for a concessional credit line for the purchase of naval assets and the expansion of training and joint exercises, including on maritime security and disaster relief, was also examined.
Ministers also welcomed the bilateral maritime dialogue and hydrographic cooperation and stressed the need to establish the operational procedure for a partnership agreement between the Indian Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard.
Both foreign ministers highlighted the growing pace of bilateral trade, which exceeded $3 billion for the first time in 2022-2023, and agreed to start negotiations on a bilateral preferential trade agreement.
Manalo and Jaishankar noted positively the ratification of the Indian grant support agreement signed in February 2023 for the implementation of quick-impact projects in the Philippines.
In this context, India underlined its commitment to share its digital innovations for the benefit of local Filipino communities in areas such as disaster resilience, health, water, environmental protection, education and others.
For his part, Manalo expressed appreciation for India’s offer to extend concessional credit lines for infrastructure and other jointly identified projects.
On legal issues, the representatives of both countries agreed on a meeting of the joint working group against terrorism for 2023 in the Philippines with the aim of discussing the development of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in preventing and combating this scourge and transnational crime.
They also called for action to implement the Memorandum of Understanding on Ayurvedic medicine signed in April 2022.
India and the Philippines also advocated better connectivity and facilitation of travel to enable growth in tourism, trade and investment, and people-to-people exchanges.
Manalo expressed the Philippines’ interest in expanding cooperation in the areas of fisheries and marine culture and called for the convening of the Joint Working Group on Agriculture to discuss other areas of cooperation.
Regarding cooperation in science and technology, the foreign ministers reported that a new program for the period 2023-2026 had been finalized and recommended continued engagement in this area.
jha/lrd