Duterte, Indian PM to meet in New Delhi

President Duterte will join fellow Southeast Asian leaders this week for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India Commemorative Summit in New Delhi as India seeks closer ties with its neighbors in the face of China’s growing influence.

Duterte is expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Naren- dra Modi on Jan. 26 to discuss ties between their countries.

The President is scheduled to leave for New Delhi on Jan. 24 to attend the Jan. 25 summit, which will celebrate 25 years of dialogue between India and the 10-member regional bloc.

The two leaders are also expected to talk about ways to ensure the availability of cheap, Indian-manufactured medicines in the Philippines. They will also discuss cooperation agreements in defense, logistics, agriculture, and micro, small and medium enterprises , which were signed last November.

The ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit is also seen as an opportunity for Modi to implement his “Act East” foreign policy.

The policy seeks to increase engagements with Southeast Asian countries to gain access to new markets. Modi had said that India’s cooperation with ASEAN was driven by “common priorities, bringing peace, stability and prosperity in the region.”

Just like Southeast Asian countries the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, India is embroiled in a territorial dispute with China.

India and China, the two largest economies in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group, have been disputing an area in the Himalayas, a row highlighted by a tense standoff last year.