New Delhi, India
January 24, 2018

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on the first day of his visit to India.

After the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the ceremonial exchange of a pre-signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) on investments between the Philippines and India.

The MOU between the Philippines’ Board of Investments (BOI) and India’s Invest India was earlier signed by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo and Invest India Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Deepak Bagla. DTI Undersecretary Rodolfo and Indian Ministry of External Affairs Secretary Preeti Saran performed the ceremonial exchange of the document.

Among the government officials who took part in the meeting were Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Ernesto Pernia, National Security Council (NSC) Secretary Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., and Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar.

Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and India was established in 1949, shortly after both countries gained independence from the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom, respectively.

Since then, cooperation on various areas such as political, security and defense, economic, investment and trade were strengthened by both countries through dialogues which were participated by the officials of both countries.

In an earlier interview, Philippine Ambassador to India Teresita Daza said, “There are multiple opportunities that abound across the different areas of cooperation. I think both countries realized the need to seize these opportunities and to see how we can further the relations in the days, months and years to come.”

*  *  *