The governments of the Philippines and India have agreed to strengthen their defense and security partnerships as well as chart strategic directions for long-term bilateral relations.
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and ASEAN Affairs Ma. Theresa Lazaro met with the Indian delegation headed by Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sec. Saurabh Kumar to discuss the Philippine-Indian cooperation on defense and security as well as maritime partnership during the 4th Philippines-India Strategic Dialogue on August 18.
The two officials also shared their views about the direction of Philippine-Indian cooperation on strategic matters in the next few years.
According to the DFA, other topics discussed in the meeting were counter-terrorism, disaster risk reduction and management, transnational crime, intelligence exchange and procurement of defense equipment, as well as the impact of regional and global developments on the two countries and the region.
A day before the Strategic Dialogue, the delegations convened the 13th Philippines-India Policy Consultations, which took a broader view of the bilateral relationship, and tackled political, economic and people-to-people cooperation.
Both the Philippines and India agreed to scale up cooperation in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, science and technology, culture, education, and tourism.
Lazaro and Kumar also discussed new areas of partnership in financial technology, space cooperation, development cooperation, and renewable energy, DFA added.
The Strategic Dialogue was initially called the Security Dialogue. It was officially renamed on March 15, 2011 during the inaugural meeting of the Philippines-India Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation with the agreed objective of also discussing strategic issues.
Meanwhile, Policy Consultations between the foreign ministries of two countries began on an ad hoc basis in 1994 and was later institutionalized with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Policy Consultation Talks in November 2000.
In a phone call on August 6, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also reaffirmed the friendship and cooperation between the two countries.