PH-India to pursue deeper bilateral relations

The Philippines and India are poised to strengthen their bilateral defense relations as the Department of National Defense (DND) develops a credible defense posture amid the heightened tensions in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

This developed as Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. met with Indian Minister of External Affairs, H.B. Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishanka on the sidelines of the latter’s official visit to Manila.

During the meeting, Teodoro Jr. welcomed India’s support for the Philippines’ position in the WPS as Jaishankar reaffirmed his country’s commitment to upholding a rules-based international order and promoting peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region.

Both officials agreed to convene multi-level dialogue mechanisms, conduct practical cooperative activities focused on capability development, and increase education and training exchanges.

They likewise agreed to promote collaboration among defense industries, enhance mobility and logistics cooperation, explore investments on emerging technologies, cooperate on space domain awareness, and potential partnership on joint research and development.

For his part, the Indian External Affairs Minister underscored the need to enhance closer cooperation on maritime domain awareness to address common security challenges and shared the best practices of India’s Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region in promoting regional maritime safety through information sharing and collaboration among member-countries.

Also discussed in the high-level dialogue is the possible cooperation of the countries on climate change mitigation to help secure vulnerable internal and external supply chains.

Jaishanka visited Manila on March 25 to March 27 where he met with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and counterpart, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo.

Last month, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Theresa Lazaro said the Philippines is eyeing to partner with Japan and India for a possible trilateral mechanism to bolster the countries’ security, economic, technology, and development cooperation.—RF, GMA Integrated News