External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar on Tuesday called on Philippine President Bongbong Marcos and conveyed the greetings of President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President Marcos.
“Honoured to call-on President @bongbongmarcos of the Philippines. Conveyed the personal greetings of President @rashtrapatibhvn and PM @narendramodi. Valued his warm sentiments towards the India-Philippines partnership. His guidance for taking it to new areas will strengthen collaboration between our two democracies,” EAM Jaishankar posted on X.
Earlier in the day, EAM Jaishankar, who is on an official visit to Manila, held a ‘warm and productive’ meeting with Philippines Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Enrique Manalo and discussed wide-ranging issues of security and maritime cooperation.
During the meeting, both leaders exchanged views on global, regional, and multilateral issues, including Indo-Pacific, ASEAN, West Asia, and global and regional issues.
In a post on X, EAM Jaishankar spoke about his meeting with Philippines counterpart saying, “Warm and productive meeting with @SecManalo of Philippines. Wide ranging discussion on advancing ties in political, defense, security & maritime cooperation, trade & investment, infrastructure, development cooperation, education, digital, technology, culture and consular domains.”
Jaishankar while addressing a press conference with the Philippines Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Enrique Manalo said that India firmly supports the Philippines in upholding its national sovereignty and will continue to further enhance cooperation in various fields, including defence and security.
“We firmly support the Philippines in upholding its national sovereignty. So I think our position is very clear. Now, regarding defence cooperation, you need to look at cooperation at its whole merits. It is not necessary to await the particular situation but it’s natural today, whose trust and comfort are growing so rapidly, that we would look at various and new areas of cooperation and certainly defence and security,” EAM said.
Jaishankar arrived in Manila after paying an official visit to Singapore and will visit Malaysia after the Philippines.
Jaishankar is on an official visit to these countries at the invitation of his counterparts, according to an official release of the Ministry of External Affairs.
The visit of the EAM spanning five days from March 23-27 will focus on enhancing bilateral relations with the three countries and provide an opportunity for engagement on regional issues of mutual concern.
(ANI)