NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar will be visiting Manila after attending the Quad Foreign Ministers' meet in Melbourne.
The visit is scheduled from February 13 to February 15.
This visit comes in the backdrop of the India and Philippines signing the $375 million Brahmos deal on January 28th.
Dr. Jaishankar is slated to meet Philippines Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin. This is the first visit by India’s EAM to the Philippines in a decade.
The Brahmos deal is one of the first military export by India involving the Indo-Russian Brahmos missiles and launchers to the Philippines Navy.
This deal will improve Philippine naval warfare capabilities at a time when Beijing is building up its military presence on the islands in the South China Sea which is close to Manila.
The Philippine Navy will receive the first of these missiles by the end of 2022.
Dr. Jaishankar will reach Manila after attending the Quad Foreign Ministers' meet in Melbourne. The meeting will open opportunities for more such defence deals in the future.
Meanwhile, after a gap of two years, foreign ministers will be meeting in Melbourne for Quad. The three other foreign ministers attending the meet are Marise Payne (Australia), Yoshimasa Hayashi (Japan) and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
This QUAD meeting comes in the backdrop of the Biden administration’s rising concerns about China and amid the escalating tensions with Russia over Ukraine and NATO alliance.
China has often labelled the QUAD arrangement as the ‘cold war’ and clique “targeting other countries”.