The Philippines and India held the 5th meeting of their Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) in New Delhi on June 29. (Photo: DFA)New Delhi (VNA) – India and the Philippines have agreed to further strengthen their bilateral partnership inareas including defence, maritimes,law enforcement, trade and investement.
The decision wasmade within the framework of the official visit to India by PhilippineSecretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo from June 27-30.
Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar and his Fillipo counterpart Manalo co-chairedthe 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 upgradedofficial interaction among defense agencies, opening of the resident DefenseAttaché office in Manila, considering India's offer for concessional Line of Credit to meet Philippines'defense requirements.
Acknowledging the growing importance of the maritime sectorfor both countries, they welcomed the bilateral Maritime Dialogue and theincreased cooperation on hydrography.
They also look forward to the signing of the MoU on Enhanced MaritimeCooperation between the Indian Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
On law enforcement cooperation, they encouraged early negotiations for abilateral Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty on Criminal Matters and a Treaty onTransfer of Sentenced Persons. The first round of talks will be held in thePhilippines in this August.
According to thejoint statement, the two sides recognised terrorism and transnational crimes as common security threats, The twoministers directed that the 2nd Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter-Terrorismmeet in the Philippines in 2023 and discuss forging a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Terrorism andTransnational Crime.
On trade and investment, they expressed their satisfaction at thegrowing pace of bilateral trade, which had for the first time crossed 3billion USD in 2022-23 and agreed to begin negotiations on a bilateral PreferentialTrade Agreement./.
