India-Philippines sign four agreements during President Kovind's ongoing visit

India and Philippines signed four agreements covering maritime domain, security, tourism, science and technology and culture during the ongoing five-day visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to the country.

President Kovind held delegation-level talks with his counterpart in Philippines, Rodrigo Roa Duterte.

Rashtrapati Bhavan in a tweet said, "President Kovind leads delegation level talks with President Duterte of Philippines. India and Philippines sign four agreements covering maritime domain, security, tourism, science and technology and culture."

Philippines and India agreed to deepen defence and maritime security partnership and to make it a key pillar of their bilateral cooperation, it said.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar in a tweet said, "President of India and his counterpart in Philippines Mr Rodrigo Roa Duterte reviewed entire spectrum of bilateral relations and regional and global issues of mutual interest. Four agreements on Tourism, Maritime cooperation, Culture and S & T were signed. @rashtrapatibhvn."

President Kovind and his wife Savita Kovind on Thursday reached Manila for a five-day state visit to the Philippines.

The visit has been organised at the invitation of Philippines President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and will carry forward the high-level engagements between the two countries.

Apart from a friendly relationship, the trade between the two countries stands at USD 2.3 billion dollars and is growing.