India-Philippines Trade Deal: Acceleration Urged

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) India and the Philippines should accelerate negotiations for a preferential trade agreement, Filipino Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo said on Monday.

In an address to Indian business leaders at the FICCI, Manalo also emphasised the "strategic importance" of developing the Philippines' nickel sector with Indian participation.

"The Philippines is the world's largest exporter of nickel ore with exports valued at approximately USD 1.95 billion, chiefly used in lithium-ion battery production," Manalo said.

Currently, nearly 98 per cent of the Philippines' exports go to China, with Japan importing the remaining 2 per cent, he said.

"We are quite interested to see India become a player in our nickel sector, not just for export diversification but crucially for the processing and development of a value chain," he said.

"India imports about USD 707 million worth of raw nickel from Russia, Norway, and Japan," Manalo noted, suggesting an opportunity for supply chain realignment.

"This represents a natural complementarity between our economies that remains largely unexploited," Manalo added.

The foreign affairs secretary emphasised the need to accelerate negotiations on the proposed bilateral preferential trade agreement (PTA) that has been under preliminary discussion for two years.

Manalo called the proposed trade pact as crucial to diversify and expand commercial relations between the two Indo-Pacific economies.

"We consider India to hold significant untapped potential as a market for Philippine exports," Manalo told the gathering of industry leaders, highlighting an untapped export potential of USD 577 million.

"We are keen to transition from these scoping exercises to actual negotiations of a preferential trade agreement that will certainly help drive growth upward," he said, according to FICCI.

Manalo said the Philippines is keen to deepen engagement with Indian businesses in a number of areas such as automotive, battery, value-added IT, pharmaceuticals, health, agriculture and many more.