Opinion Manila and New Delhi: A 21st Century Partnership

India’s economic trajectory is highly promising, with projections indicating it will become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027. With an average GDP growth of 5.5 per cent over the past decade, India is the fastest-growing among the large economies.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is on the threshold of achieving upper-middle-income status and becoming a trillion-dollar economy by 2033. Anchoring our diplomacy is the socio-economic agenda of President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr to facilitate conditions for reducing poverty, and for sustaining economic growth, and resilience in sectors like agriculture, energy, and infrastructure. Both our nations are deep into fostering greater inclusion and the empowerment of our growing populations, as we drive smarter strategies for a prosperous and climate-proof future.

These factors underline the prospects for expanding trade and economic cooperation in innovation, new technologies and clean energy for supporting our goals to successfully transition vital sectors of our economy.

Business-to-business partnerships can be upscaled to leverage synergies between our economies in light of India’s leadership in the development of renewable energy, particularly wind and solar power. Between 2009 and 2022, some 280 billion Philippine pesos were invested in renewable energy technologies in the Philippines, almost half of them going to solar energy. The sheer volume of investments and pledges coming into wind power in the first half of 2023 tell of its ascending presence in our energy sector.

Synergies can also be unlocked in the context of the “Digital India” project and the Philippines’ spirited shoring up of our digital infrastructure. Additionally, as the Philippines works to become a spacefaring country by 2030, more vigorous capacity-building and collaboration between the Philippine Space Agency and the ISRO are on the horizon.

The pursuit by Manila and New Delhi of a more robust economic partnership in the coming years draws vigour from recent reforms in the Philippines’ business regime, covering foreign investment, public service, and retail trade.

There has never been a better time to revive our efforts to optimise the potential of our relationship, including in defence and security. The signing of a $374-million contract for the procurement by the Philippines’ defence forces of India’s BrahMos Shore-based Anti-Ship Missile System in January 2022, signals only a first step.

This remarkable zeal by which our two governments are reshaping the contours of the relationship across its many aspects, is also driven by our engagements within the framework of ASEAN, which enjoys a constructive dialogue partnership with India, and India’s “Act East Policy”, which aims to strengthen economic, strategic, and cultural relations in the Indo-Pacific region.

To harness the power of the Indo-Pacific as a catalyst for growth, more intensified regional cooperation is essential. Stronger economic integration, improved connectivity, and increased innovation are key to buttressing the region as a global economic powerhouse. As champions of the rule of law and inclusive multilateralism, the Philippines and India play important roles in this respect.

Today, I will be meeting with Minister Jaishankar for the fifth iteration of the Philippines-India Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation in New Delhi. I look forward to a most meaningful exchange that will set a firm course for a stronger partnership, one that will build on the almost 75 years of our diplomatic ties and the common interests we share as democratic Asian republics.

The writer is Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines