\nMANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. received an invitation for a state visit to India, as he looks to strengthen the Philippines’ partnership and economic cooperation with the South Asian giant in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure, and defense.<\/p>\n
Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar extended the invitation to Marcos during his courtesy visit in Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
‘Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi looks forward to welcoming Marcos in India for a state visit,’ the Indian official said, as quoted by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) in a news release.<\/p>\n
Jaishankar added that it would be nice if the President’s visit coincides with 75th anniversary celebration of the two countries’ diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n
Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and India were established in 1949.<\/p>\n
President Marcos welcomed the invitation, according to the PCO.<\/p>\n
In their meeting, Marcos also expressed gratitude to India for its decision to export 295,000 metric tons of non-basmat
\ni white rice to the Philippines and said that he hoped that the two countries would ‘do better’ in terms of cooperation in other areas.<\/p>\n
‘I’d like to thank you, and please extend my gratitude to your Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) for the timely provision of imported rice that we bought from India. The very critical\u2026 a very crucial time since we are in the right now suffering the effects [of] drought,’ Marcos said.<\/p>\n
‘We hope to do better and I hope to continue this trade with India, but not only in agri products but in other [areas]. The ambassador has been working very hard to promote all of these different exchanges,” he added.<\/p>\n
In October last year, India, the world’s largest rice exporter, approved the shipping of 295,000 metric tons of non-basmati white rice to the Philippines, the highest allocation it gave to a foreign nation after lifting the restriction to specific countries to allay the rise in prices in its domestic market.<\/p>\n
India also expressed support for the Philippines in asserting its sovereig
\nn rights over the West Philippine Sea in light of the China Coast Guard’s water cannon attack on a Philippine supply vessel over the weekend.<\/p>\n
READ: PH earns India’s support in upholding sovereignty over WPS<\/p>\n
READ: PBBM thanks India for rescuing Filipino seafarers in missile-hit ship<\/p>\n
Likewise, the President expressed gratitude to the government of India for its ‘swift and decisive action’ in rescuing the crew members of MV True Confidence, which included over a dozen Filipinos, after the merchant ship was attacked by Houthi rebels while plying the Gulf of Aden on March 6.<\/p>\n
Source: Philippines News Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. received an invitation for a state visit to India, as he looks to strengthen the Philippines’ partnership and economic cooperation with the South Asian giant in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure, and de…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n