India, Philippines can cooperate in agriculture sector

Chennai, July 10 (IANS) India and the Philippines can work together in agriculture and the latter also should not be considered as a serious threat to India's information technology sector, an official said Tuesday.

"India and Philippines can work together in the area of agriculture. For instance while pineapple is wasted in northeastern parts of India, in Philippines, fibres are taken out of the fruit for making traditional clothes," said India's Ambassador-designate to the Philippines Amit Dasgupta

Speaking at an interactive session with businessmen organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said the Indian IT sector is not just a call centre or business process outsourcing (BPO) business and hence the domestic sector need not worry about the Philippines becoming a major BPO hub.

Dasgupta also said a senior Indian minister is expected to lead a business delegation to Philippines this year. However he declined to name the minister or give more details on the kind of business delegation that would visit the Philippines.

Dasgupta, expected to take charge as Indian envoy to Philippines next month, said India's relation with the Philippines will be two pronged. Firstly India will relate to Philippines as an individual nation and secondly as part of the Association of South East Asian Nations.

According to him, the relationship with ASEAN nations is like a game of chess. "Even while making a pawn move one has to consider holistically other pieces in the board and the impact of the move on others," he said.

According to J.N.Amrolia, director, Ashok Leyland John Deere Construction Equipment Co, the current liberal trade regimes followed by the two countries have positively impacted on bilateral economic relations.

He said the bilateral trade with Philippines was $1,312.12 million in 2010-11 with exports out of India at $882.74 million and imports at $429.39 million.

Amrolia said there is potential to increase trade with Philippines in the drugs and pharma sector because of the cost competitiveness enjoyed by th eIndian industries.