Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday held talks with visiting Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A Manalo, during which the two sides stressed on their commitment towards imparting renewed impetus to the bilateral relations.
The Vice President’s Office in a tweet said:
“Hon’ble Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, Mr. Enrique A. Manalo, called on the Hon’ble Vice-President, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas today.
“Discussions focused on the shared values and complementarities that form the foundation of the two nations. Both leaders underlined their commitment towards imparting a renewed impetus to the India-Philippines bilateral relations, and further strengthening of people-to-people ties.”
The Philippines top official is visiting India from June 27-30 at the invitation of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, to co-chair the 5th India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), to be held on June 29 in New Delhi.
During the meeting, both sides will review the entire gamut of bilateral relations including political, defence, security, maritime cooperation, trade & investment, health, tourism, agriculture, financial technology and will also discuss regional & multilateral issues of mutual interest, a statement said.
The Philippines-India JCBC is a ministerial-level platform usually held every two years to review bilateral relations and chart areas of cooperation for the succeeding years.
Manalo is leading a delegation of officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Finance, the Philippine Space Agency, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and the Philippine Overseas Construction Board of the Department of Trade and Industry.
The Fourth Meeting of the JCBC was hosted by the Philippines virtually on November 6, 2020, due to the pandemic.
The two nations will celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2024.
