New Delhi: India and Philippines agreed on Friday to fight together against terrorism and both nations will increase defence cooperation with each-other in future.
The decision was taken in the virtual meeting of the joint commission on bilateral cooperation. Meeting was Co-chaired by India’s External Affairs Minister (MEA) S.Jaishankar and Foreign Affair Secretary of Philippines – Teodoro Locsin Jr.
Philippine is also in the list of nations – who need the world’s most dangerous supersonic BrahMos missiles – which is developed by Russia and India.
Ministry of External Affairs of India said that “The two sides agreed to further strengthen defence engagement and maritime Co-operation, especially in military training and education, capacity building, regular goodwill visits, and procurement of defence equipment,”
In a statement – MEA of India stated that “Philippines is also ready to enhance cooperation in the area of counter-terrorism with information exchange between concerned agencies and support in terms of specialised training needs.”
After the meeting – S.Jaishankar tweeted that “Meeting with Locsin was focused on taking forward cooperation in trade and investment, defence, education, ICT and space. The Indian side underlined our convergence on Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific.”
Jaishankar and Locsin agreed to boost the cooperation on shared challenges, particularly in the health sector to address the Covid-19 pandemic.
Apart from this – Philippines and India agreed to develop relations in agriculture, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, tourism, energy, ICT, and science and technology.
“To expand trade, tourism and student exchanges, both sides agreed to work on a simplified visa regime.” MEA said in a statement.
S.Jaishankar invited Filipino students, scholars and academics to avail of the ITEC and e-ITEC initiatives, and use the PhD fellowships offered to Asean students at IITs. He appreciated educational opportunities provided by the Philippines to Indian students.
_Vinayak.Barot