President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. meets with Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita. MPC Pool 

MANILA — The Philippines is eyeing to “elevate bilateral relations” with India, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Tuesday, during his meeting with Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita in Malacañang.

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The Philippines would “like to continue” its relations with India, Marcos told Margherita, noting that the two countries recently marked 75 years of diplomatic relations.

“We plan to elevate the bilateral relations,” Marcos told the Indian minister. 

“It's actually very interesting and important because in terms of geopolitical issues, as it were, we used to speak of the Pacific, or Asia-Pacific, it's now Indo-Pacific,” he said. 

Margherita thanked Marcos for making time to meet him, saying he traveled to Malacañang to “convey all our love and respect from the people of India.”

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“On behalf of the entire people of India, I am here to convey our deep regards to the great nation of the Philippines for you,” the Indian official said. 

“It's a very important year, it's a milestone that we have marked 75 years of our diplomatic relations with the Philippines,” he said. 

Margherita stopped by the Philippines before making his way to Palau, where he would attend the swearing in ceremony of Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. later this week. 

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In 2023, Indian Ambassador to the Philippines Shambu Kumaran said that his country was looking to “build a defense partnership” with the Philippines “to have an evolution that is rules-based, that does not side step the interests of smaller states, and that coercion and shall we say resort to aggressive maneuvers are avoided because we all have a common stake in this region.”

Last year, the Philippines acquired India’s BrahMos missile system, which has been described as the fastest cruise missile in the world.

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Aside from defense cooperation, Marcos earlier said that he was “very keen" on developing the Philippines' local pharmaceutical sector with the help of Indian manufacturing experts.

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