New Delhi, India
August 5, 2025

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and First Lady Louise Araneta Marcos were accorded a ceremonial welcome from President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India.

A 21-gun salute was fired in honor of President Marcos Jr., followed by an inspection of the honor guards during the ceremony.

After the formal event, Akshay Dongare, a senior correspondent from DD News, asked President Marcos Jr. about his expectations for the visit and what he is looking forward to.

“I think it is a reaffirmation of the alliance and the partnership that we are strengthening. What used to be what, where we used to refer to the Asia Pacific region, we now refer to as the Indo-Pacific region, which is the, I think, a correct evolution of that understanding because of the global nature of all the politics and of all the trade and all of the economy. And to build upon what we already have had but to certainly to explore the many opportunities that have arisen in the past few years because of the new technologies and the changing state of the global economy and the geopolitical, the geopolitics around us now,” he said.

Following the ceremonial welcome, the First Couple will visit the Raj Ghat to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

This inaugural state visit by President Marcos Jr. marks the culmination of a year-long celebration of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and India, where both countries are poised to elevate bilateral relations to a Strategic Partnership.

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