India and the Philippines are set to mark 75th anniversary of their diplomatic ties next year.

In an exclusive interview to TOI, Philippines foreign minister Enrique Manalo, who was on an India visit from June 27 to 30, underscores the growing defence and security ties between New Delhi and Manila and their joint commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific amid China’s aggressive postures in the region.

Under its flagship ‘Act East’ Policy, New Delhi seeks to deepen its ties with Manila in various spheres such as political, security and defence.

How important are these ties for the Philippines?They are very important.

India has been a major partner of the Philippines in so many areas, mainly because of our commitment to democratic principles and a long history of cooperation.

Next year will mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and PhilippinesWe are natural and traditional partners.

India and the Philippines have much to offer each other.

This was substantiated during my meeting with [external affairs minister] S Jaishankar (on June 29) where we went over a broad range of areas.

In existing areas such as economic and defence, further cooperation is possible.

India is our 15th largest trading partner.We also discovered new areas such cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and of course, space where cooperation is possible.India is also an important dialogue partner within the ASEAN (the Philippines is a part of the 10-member bloc).

Next year, the Philippines will be the coordinator of the ASEAN-India dialogue.The two countries have been the victims of Chinese aggression and coercive action – India along its land border in the Himalayas and Philippines in the disputed South China Sea.

Do you think there is a scope for greater cooperation between New Delhi and Manila against this common adversary in the Indo-Pacific?Let me first answer that by saying that our relationship with China is fairly extensive.

We have agreed with China on many occasions that our differences in the West Philippines Sea or the South China Sea are not the sum total of our cooperation.

We have extensive cooperation with China on the economic front and that’s continuing to thrive.

Still, we have a big challenge, which is the South China Sea.India and the Philippines are natural partners in the sense that both subscribe to the idea of a free and open Indo-Pacific, a region which is open to diversity… and a commitment to democratic ideals aimed at promoting prosperity of the people in the region through, mainly economic cooperation.Our bilateral relations with India in terms of maritime cooperation also offer an opportunity to ensure that we help maintain a free and open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.Philippines is the first country to buy India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.

How many missiles have you procured so far? Have these missiles been inducted into your Navy and what’s the current status of the deal?Negotiations and other details of the BrahMos missile deal were undertaken by respective defence ministries and they are dealing with technical aspects.

The contract was signed last year and the delivery is expected to be made some time in the end of this year.

These missiles will be used by our Navy.

This is for the first time that we have made such a deal.We think this is perhaps only the beginning of further defence cooperation, not only in terms of weapons, but also in training and best practices.

This is an important event in our defence cooperation.India is reportedly appointing a defence attache in its embassy in Manila.

Are there more agreements in the defence and security domain in the pipeline?During my meeting with the external affairs minister (Jaishankar), it was confirmed that India is opening an office of defence attache in Manila very soon.

This couldn’t have come at a better time as we are now beginning to explore a wide range of areas of co-operation in defence.

The presence of a defence attache in the Philippines… ensures that there is daily communication and quick response in terms of potential areas of cooperation in defence.The India-Philipphines joint statement also focuses on cooperation in counter-terrorism.

Could you elaborate on that?There are many ways to see how we can cooperate…the most common is sharing of intelligence and information.

We also envisage a regular exchange of visits of counter-terrorism officials.

These are the activities we can do with India as we have done with a lot of other partners.Being a member of ASEAN, how does Manila view the current crisis of democracy in Myanmar and how soon this can be resolved.

An unstable Myanmar is certainly not good for regional peace and security.The Philippines and the ASEAN are very concerned about the situation in Myanmar, mainly because of the humanitarian crisis.

The violence has not ceased and it has caused immense suffering and loss of lives.Our main goal, along with the ASEAN, is to see how we can, at the very least, prevent further bloodshed and all the factions and the military junta can find some ground for talks… for peaceful resolution of the issues.And of course, there is a danger… if the violence continues…it could spread to neighbouring countries… [that] could exacerbate the situation.A couple of years ago, the ASEAN adopted a five-point consensus, to which Myanmar was also a party.

The ASEAN remains committed to implementing the five-point consensus, which calls for a dialogue between all relevant stakeholders in Myanmar.

The ASEAN has also appointed a special envoy, who has put in a lot of hard work… to see how the five-point consensus can be implemented… but it’s a big challenge.But we fully support the efforts of the special envoy… We have a presence in Myanmar and we are actively trying… to see how we can provide humanitarian assistance.

Nevertheless, the situation is still characterized by a lot of violence and we really remain very much concerned.

But [despite all efforts], we have to recognise that it’s not going to be an easy task.It is said India and Philippines are yet to realise the full potential of their ties despite there being shared commonalities like anti-colonialism, a democratic polity, a free press and independent judiciary.

Your thoughts on this!My visit here [to India], in many ways, reaffirmed our [Philippines and India] commitment to try to bring our relationship to even greater heights.

As I said earlier, there are many new areas where we can enhance our cooperation.For example, we are hoping that very soon there will be a direct flight between Manila and New Delhi.

So, we are closely looking at these kind of activities… of course, trade is also a key sector.Besides, we are also looking at global issues such as climate change and green economy.

We share a lot of commonalities.India has a growing diaspora in the Philippines.

How can the two countries leverage their people-to-people relationship?One way is to increase tourism.

And the best way to do it is by having more direct flights…that would be a great boost.

Besides tourism, there are so many ways to enhance people-to-people relationships.

For example, education.

I think it is important to encourage further student exchanges…because that will only create greater awareness of our respective societies and cultures.Next year [the 75th anniversary of India-Philippines relationship], we are beginning to plan a number of events to be spearheaded by our respective embassies to commemorate this important milestone in both the Philippines and India.