India gives Philippines Line of Credit for defence requirement

India on Thursday offered the Philippines a Line of Credit (LoC) to help it meet its defence requirement amid the increasing belligerence of China in the Indo-Pacific region.

New Delhi’s offer for the concessional LoC for Manila comes about a year-and-a-half after the Philippines signed a contract worth about $374.96 million to procure BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles manufactured in India in collaboration with Russia.

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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart in the Government of the Philippines, Enrique A Manalo, had a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. They underlined in a joint statement that both countries had a shared interest in a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. Sending out a message to China, India and the Philippines also stressed on peaceful settlement of disputes and for adherence to international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea in this regard.

The two ministers expressed keen interest to continue to work together in stepping up bilateral cooperation in the defence sector, including through regular or upgraded official-level interaction among the defence agencies, the opening of the resident Defence Attaché office in Manila, consideration of India’s offer for concessional Line of Credit to meet defence requirements of Philippines’, acquisition of naval assets, and expansion of training and joint exercises on maritime security and disaster response.