The Hindu : Front Page : Manila keen on security ties

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 06, 2007
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Front Page

Manila keen on security ties

Sandeep Dikshit

— Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Evolving alliance: Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a ceremonial reception in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: India and the Philippines on Friday signed a number of agreements to promote economic and security cooperation, including information sharing between their law enforcing agencies to combat terrorism.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, accompanied by seven Cabinet Ministers and a 41-member business team, is here on a three-day visit.

The first visit to India by a Philippines President in a decade is intended to improve ties with New Delhi.

Ms. Arroyo held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and agreed to set up a Joint Commission on bilateral cooperation, co-chaired by the Foreign Ministers. Meeting twice a year, it will aim at developing trade, economic, science and technology and other fields of bilateral cooperation.

Extending support to India’s Look East policy, Ms. Arroyo said, “World stage carries implications, not just for economic development but for the management of our environment on a sustainable basis and for maintaining the broader peace and stability in the region, in the world. That is why we support India’s ‘Look East Policy’ and your plans to integrate both South Asia and South East Asia.”

Joint declaration

A joint declaration on the framework of bilateral cooperation, signed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Philippines counterpart Alberto Romulo, has identified several areas in which further links could be developed.

These include natural gas, defence, security, tackling trans-national crime, agriculture, mining, information technology and health and pharmaceuticals.

Another joint declaration to combat international terrorism envisages cooperation in capacity building and suppression of financing of terrorist acts.

India agreed to extend a $15-million line of credit to the Philippines for 12 years, including a four-year moratorium. This is part of the $100-million soft line of credit India decided to extend to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

For trade, India has identified eight areas of export including of rice, sugar, wheat, drugs, medicines, pharmaceuticals and cement. The Philippines has identified coconut, resins, consumer electronics, biodiesel, jatropha and mining ore as its focus areas for exports.

In the first leg of her journey in China, Ms. Arroyo was given the honour of opening the Special Olympic Games for the differently-abled.

While China has developed deep trade links with the ASEAN, India unveiled the “Look East” policies in the 1990s aimed at restoring its traditional links with the region which were disrupted by colonisation. It later expanded the ambit of the policy to include security cooperation.

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