Amid its maritime tensions with China and its plans to modernise its military as a deterrence, Philippines envoy to India Josel Francisco Ignacio told in an interview that defence cooperation is a key element of growing bilateral ties.
Philippines Looks At India For Military Modernising
Amid its maritime tensions with China and its plans to modernise its military as a deterrence, Philippines envoy to India Josel Francisco Ignacio told in an interview that defence cooperation is a key element of growing bilateral ties. Noting that both India and Philippines have convergence on key security issues, he said that defence cooperation being implemented is more than just acquisitions of military equipment.
“Defence equipment acquisitions from India is just one aspect of a larger defence relationship. That is also very rapidly rising and expanding. We have military education and training. I am happy to say we have Filipino cadets in Dehradun and Chennai in Indian military academies,” Ignacio said.
New Delhi and Manila in January 2022 signed a $374.6 million deal for the export of a shore-based variant of an anti-ship cruise missile – BrahMos. The deal was India’s first major international export order for the Indian defence industry. The missiles have a range of 290 km. In April 2024, India delivered the first set of launchers and missiles to The Philippines. However, experts from the strategic security space have questioned whether Manila has the capabilities to operate such missiles, including Ashley Tellis, a former senior advisor to the US State Department.
In November 2024, India and the Philippines will also be celebrating 75 years of ties between the two countries. The ambassador highlighted his hope of a high-level delegation visit happening later in the year to celebrate this moment, reminiscent of then President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to Manila in 2019 to celebrate 70 years of ties. In the financial year 2023-2024, trade between India and the Philippines touched record highs of $3.5 billion, according to data published by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry. While this is a 15 % increase in comparison to the previous year, the overall share in India’s total trade is about 0.21 %.
