Marcos Set to Strengthen India-Philippines Partnership
Philippines President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr is scheduled to visit India on August 4-8 to strengthen the defense partnership and business in the backdrop of acquisition of BrahMos missiles from here.
India already has a foreign customer since the Philippines is believed to be the first to buy India BrahMos missiles and during the presidential visit, a defense cooperation agreement with concentration on maritime can be signed, it has been learnt. On April 19 2024, the first flight of the BrahMos Missile system was supplied by India to the Philippines.
Defense cooperation is one of the strong pillars of bilateral relations and a promising area for future collaboration between India and the Philippines. Indian Navy ships have made regular port calls to the Philippines and shipped Vietnam repair work. Hydrographic cooperation is also being pursued by the Indian Navy with the Philippines Navy. India has remained steadfast on the freedom of navigation and territorial integrity in the South China sea area.
During his address at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last year, Marcos Jr says "will pursue more robust collaboration with friends such as India".
The Philippines is keen to get more Indian tourists, and has announced visa-free travel for Indian nationals. The direct flights are expected to restart from the last quarter of the year. Bilateral trade between the two countries had grown steadily to reach $3.5 billion in 2023-24 (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India).
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To facilitate bilateral trade, both countries signed an Agreement on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Custom Matters in April 2022 (ratified in June 2023). Negotiations on the Preferential Trade Agreement were revived with a virtual meeting in 2023.