Philippines, India agree to boost bilateral relations

India and the Philippines have agreed to further strengthen their bilateral partnership in areas including defence, maritime, law enforcement, trade and investment.

The decision was made within the framework of the official visit to India by Philippine Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo from June 27-30, Vietnam Plus reports.

Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr S. Jaishankar and his Filipino counterpart Manalo co-chaired the 5th meeting of their Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) in New Delhi on June 29.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the two sides agreed to upgrade official interaction among defence agencies, opening the resident Defence Attaché office in Manila, and considering India's offer for a concessional Line of Credit to meet the Philippines' defence requirements.

Acknowledging the growing importance of the maritime sector for both countries, they welcomed the bilateral Maritime Dialogue and the increased cooperation on hydrography.

They also look forward to the signing of the MoU on Enhanced Maritime Cooperation between the Indian Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

On law enforcement cooperation, they encouraged early negotiations for a bilateral Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty on Criminal Matters and a Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The first round of talks will be held in the Philippines this August.

According to the joint statement, the two sides recognised terrorism and transnational crimes as common security threats, The two ministers directed that the 2nd Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter-Terrorism meet in the Philippines in 2023 and discuss forging a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Terrorism and Transnational Crime.

On trade and investment, they expressed their satisfaction at the growing pace of bilateral trade, which had for the first time crossed 3 billion USD in 2022-23 and agreed to begin negotiations on a bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement.