Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said he is supporting the proposal of former Indian Ambassador Gopalkrishna Gandhi to expand people-to-people exchanges to strengthen bilateral ties between the Philippines and India.
The former ambassador said the exchanges should engage the youth of India and the Philippines by encouraging them to participate in dialogues with academic leaders and artists to promote the arts, culture, literature, and philosophy of their respective countries.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century whose major contribution to society was his philosophy of non-violent resistance, which he had practiced to lead India in its path toward independence against the British Rule, and later, inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the globe.
Dominguez consulted Gandhi on how India and the Philippines could better enhance their bilateral ties in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s recalibration of the country’s foreign policy towards Asia.
“The pendulum is swinging back where India and China will become or are already well on their way to becoming the engines of growth in this world. And we want to ask your advice on how we can improve our relations with India,” Dominguez told Gandhi during their meeting.
“We want to find a way of becoming closer and having more cooperation between us not only in business but through people-to-people [interactions],” he said.
Gandhi said that there should be a “meeting of the young minds of the two countries” by involving them in in-depth discussions about the affairs of the state but with more focus on the social and philosophical aspects.
Gandhi said Dominguez’s visit to Chennai, where he spoke before the MS Swaminathan Foundation about how the Philippines was fulfilling its vision of making growth sustainable and inclusive for its people, was the kind of dialogue that was needed to engage the youth in constructive discussions.
“The speakers need not necessarily be young. They can be but they need not be. But they should address the young. And I think it’s very important that they speak to that generation,” Gandhi said.
The majority of the populations of both India and the Philippines are young.
Gandhi is currently a professor of Political Science, History and Indian Civilizations at Ashoka University. He used to be the Indian ambassador to Norway and Iceland and was a former governor of the Indian state of West Bengal. He also served as the officer of the Indian Administrative Service and had written a novel and a play.
Dominguez noted that India and the Philippines had a lot in common, among them a young and dynamic workforce that could continue to sustain the rapid economic growth of both countries.
Dominguez and Gandhi met during the former’s visit to the headquarters of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in India.
The MSSRF is a not-for-profit trust founded by Prof. M.S. Swaminathan with proceeds from the First World Food Prize that he received in 1987. It aims to accelerate the use of modern science and
technology for agricultural and rural development to improve lives and livelihoods of communities.
Swaminathan was the director-general of the International Rice Research Institute based in Los Baños, Laguna. He headed IRRI from 1982 to 1988.
Dominguez, who was appointed by then-President Corazon Aquino as Minister of Agriculture and Food in 1986, and Swaminathan, worked closely to establish the Rice Production Enhancement Program, which immensely helped Filipino farmers and the country attain almost 100 percent rice self-sufficiency in 1988.
