INDIA has made more than $1.25 billion in investment pledges to Manila that are expected to create more than 105,000 jobs, as the Philippines considers the acquisition of weapons and warships from New Delhi, Malacañang said Thursday.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday evening (New Delhi time) met Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi for the second time at the Hyderabad House—where the two vowed to strenghten ties between the two countries through “trade and investment, defense and security, education and people-to-people cooperation,” their Ministry of External Affairs said.
“Delighted to meet Mr. Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines. The vigor and momentum in India-Philippines ties augur well for our nations and the Indo-Pacific region,” Modi said in a tweet.
Before Duterte’s trip to India to participate in the ongoing Association of Southeast Asian Nations—India Commemorative Summit—the Trade Department has already finished negotiations for multi-million-dollar investments from private Indian firms, expected to spur the Philippine economy, Palace spokesman HarrySRoque said.
Two memoranda of understanding aimed at strengthening the economic cooperation were signed between the two countries, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez added.
“The truth of the matter is even before the start of the Asean–India (summit), DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) has already facilitated $1.250 billion in new investments in the Philippines and they are expected to generate 105,500 jobs,” Roque told reporters in a news briefing.
The bulk of $1 billion in investment pledges would come from Adani Green Energy, India’s leading solar power generation and manufacturing company, which is planning to expand its operations in the country.
“We met Adani Green Energy. Their plan is to expand its operation to the Philippines in particular focusing on the renewable energy, building solar panels. They are the biggest in India…So they are now looking for sites for the solar and the wind-based power generation,” Lopez said. With Vito Barcelo
Aside from these—seven letters of intent from investors involved in sectors such as information technology, business processing management, and transportation were received by the government, expected to generate more jobs for Filipinos, the Trade chief said.
“We had basically about nine agreements with them on how we can both expand and strengthen our trade and investment relationship,” Lopez adds.
Modi, who assumed office as prime minister in 2014, first visited the country during Manila’s hosting of the 31st Asean Summit, coinciding with the regional bloc’s 50th year.
All 10 leaders of the regional bloc were then invited to New Delhi to celebrate 25 years of partnership with Asean, coinciding with India’s Republic Day celebrations—widely seen as an attempt to balance China’s growing influence in the region.
To reciprocate their efforts, the Philippines will aim to strengthen military ties with India, one of the world’s largest producers of weapons through a possible procurement of military equipment and warships, Roque said.
He added that the two countries also expressed willingness to help each other in combatting modern-day threats of terrorism.
“The prime minister said they have expertise in ships and other military hardware, so President Duterte manifested that in the same way he has decided to purchase weapons from China and Russia, he will also consider purchasing Indian weapons,” Roque said.
Modi also expressed India’s readiness to help address the threat of piracy along the vital Indo-Pacific navigation route, which encompasses other Asean neighbors such as Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, Roque said.
Following up on an earlier promise to procure cheap pharmaceutical products from India, Duterte had told Modi that he wanted Indian health firms to se -up shop in the country.
“We have emphasized the need for these India pharmaceutical companies to start manufacturing in the Philippines. They can make the Philippines their manufacturing hub for medicines that they will supply to the Philippines or making it as a manufacturing hub to export also to their other markets,” Duterte’s spokesman said.
Health care was also discussed, with many of the Indian companies expressing support to provide “affordable” preventive health care for Filipinos, he added.
In the same meeting, Modi had “responded very positively” about the government’s war on drugs, and even cited the need for further international cooperation to combat the drug menace.
“The prime minister said he realizes that the threat of drugs to young people is very, very serious,” Roque added. “He said that he has in fact raised the issue of the drug menace in the G13 Summit emphasizing that drug traffickers used proceeds from their illicit trade to fund terrorist activities.” With Vito Barcelo
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