In BrahMos deal’s backdrop, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar to visit Philippines from Feb 13 to 15

India’s external affairs minister Dr S Jaishankar will be on a visit to the Philippines from 13th to 15Th February. The visit comes in the backdrop of India and the Philippines last month signing the $374.96 million dollar deal under which New Delhi exports BrahMos missiles to the ASEAN country.

This is the biggest defense export deal India has ever signed and was conceptualized in 2017. The coastal defense regiment of the Philippine marines will be the primary employer of the missiles. India will be delivering 3 batteries and training the operators and maintainers as part of the deal.

During the visit, EAM will hold talks with his Philippines counterpart, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teddy Locsin Jr. A call on with President Rodrigo Duterte is also expected to happen. The last foreign ministerial visit to the country was in 2013 with the visit of the then EAM Salman Khurshid. Minister of State in MEA, Gen V K Singh visited the country in 2017. PM Modi visited the country in 2017 while President Duterte visited India in 2018 for the Republic day celebrations.

The visit of EAM to the Philippines comes after his visit to Australia that begins from 10th February. EAM visits Australia for the Quad in persons foreign ministers’ meet, a visit that will have a major bilateral component as well. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi at weekly presser said, “The next meeting is expected to be held later this month in Melbourne. We hope to share an update on this with you soon.” The last in-person quad meet was in 2020 in Tokyo followed by a virtual meet in February 2021.

EAM is expected to call on other top Australian government officials and meet the diaspora as well. Key engagements include his meeting with US Secretary of state Blinken. “Secretary will meet with Indian Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar to reaffirm our vitally important strategic partnership,” US State department’s, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Assistant Secretary Daniel Kritenbrink said last week. The Quad FMs meet happens against the backdrop of the controversial Beijing winter Olympics. 3 of the 4 Quad member countries, US, India, and Australia have announced a public diplomatic boycott of the games, while Japanese delegations don’t include any top government officials.