India And Philippines Closer To Signing A Preferential Trade Agreement For greater Cooperation Between Asia’s Two Fastest Growing Economies News24 –
Philippines is working closely with India to work out a Preferential Trade Agreement at the earliest to enable greater economic cooperation between the two of Asia’s fastest growing economies.
The visiting Philippines President, Ferdinand Romualdez on Wednesday told a congregation of Indian Inc. in Delhi that Philippines and India see the PTA as a strategic platform to harness shared strengths and elevate ongoing economic partnership.
Addressing the India-Philippines CEO Roundtable Meeting, organised by the FICCI (as the nodal chamber) President Marcos said,“We are working to find common ground to make the PTA come as quickly as possible. We have found ways to quicken the process with strong support from both government and business chambers, we are taking concrete steps towards launching formal negotiations.”
India and Philippines are natural economic partners with growing economies that are powered by young skilled force population. “We both are committed in building a resilient, innovation driven economies that deliver opportunities for our people,” the visiting dignitary said.
Elaborating on the steps taken by Philippines to foster greater cooperation, he said, his government has taken a slew of measures to attract more Indian investments by ensuring ease of doing business in Philippines. “These reforms show our commitment to create a truly enabling environment for investors, including our valued partners in India. We are encouraged by the growing momentum in our bilateral trade, which reached $ 3.3 billion in 2024-2025 and there is a scope to achieve exponential growth,” President Marcos said.
He listed out areas where greater cooperation is possible and specifically mentioned collaborations in sectors like ICT, digital technology, semiconductors, renewable energy, infrastructure, health care, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. “These sectors are aligned with our development priorities and global opportunities. The central tenant of our plans for development in the Philippines is to regard our private sectors as partners in the development program,” he stated.
The Philippines Department of Trade and Industry will work with Indian counterparts, to soon convene the meeting of Joint Working Group on trade and investment. “We are not only going to have meetings of joint working group on trade and investment, but we will also granulate down to industry specific working groups,” President Marcos added.
Reciprocating the sentiments fully, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal confirmed that the PTA was being pursued seriously and added that “we have finalised the terms of reference which we hope to start quickly.”
“We can use this as a basis for strengthening our bilateral ties and expanding businesses in both nations. As we move towards becoming the third-largest economy in the world in the next couple of years and as we take Indian economy from the current $4 trillion to $30 trillion by 2047, we would look at the Philippines as our trusted partner,” he emphasized.
“The bilateral trade, he said, today is very low and starting from a low base our ambitions should be huge. This is one partnership where we should only aim for exponential growth and not be satisfied with incremental growth at all. Let us work together and collaborate in areas like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, information technology, science, innovation and agriculture,” he stressed.
Harsha Vardhan Agarwal, President, FICCI & Vice Chairman and MD, Emami Ltd said, “India and the Philippines share a relationship grounded in mutual respect, shared democratic values, and a growing convergence of economic interests. As two of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, we are uniquely positioned to unlock the potential of our partnership across a wide range of sectors—from infrastructure and pharmaceuticals to digital technology, automotive, Agro-food processing, clean energy, and innovation-driven enterprises.”
Anant Goenka, Senior Vice President, FICCI, while sharing the industry perspective, urged the Philippines President to look at expediting the approval process for generic drugs. The reduction in approval timelines to 6-9 months from the current 36-42 months will help in faster drug registrations and help in reducing the price of these drugs for the citizens in the Philippines.
Jyoti Vij, Director General, FICCI said, “At FICCI, we remain committed to facilitating business dialogue, policy advocacy, and trade partnerships. We look forward to building on today’s dialogue and enhancing India–Philippines business cooperation going forward.”