This article describes India's development partnership with the Philippines and the two countries' cooperation in defence, agriculture, health, science and technology, and space. It covers training under ITEC, grant-funded Quick Impact Projects and humanitarian assistance. It is based on the MEA brief of April 2026 and reflects the position as of that date.
Training under ITEC
The Philippines is one of the beneficiaries of India's flagship capacity building programme, Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC). According to the MEA brief of April 2026, over 1300 Filipino professionals have availed of ITEC courses to date. Popular courses have included Electoral Technology, Environmental Impact Assessment, Renewable Energy, Natural Resource Management, Public Health Management, Ayurveda and Human Rights.
In FY 2024-2025, 22 Filipinos participated in Civilian ITEC courses and 20 defence personnel participated in ITEC defence courses. In FY 2025-26, as of the brief, 13 Civilian ITEC Courses and 41 Defence ITEC courses had been availed by Filipino participants. The Embassy of India celebrates ITEC Day every year, bringing together ITEC alumni from across the Philippines.
Quick Impact Projects
India and the Philippines signed an agreement on Indian grant assistance for the implementation of Quick Impact Projects (QIP) on 7 February 2023. According to the brief, this opened a regular grant funding window for the Philippines for the first time.
On 15 July 2024, the Embassy of India in Manila and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) of the Philippines signed individual MOAs for 6 QIPs valued at US$50,000 each. The projects are in agriculture, disaster risk reduction and management, healthcare and livelihood support. Their progress is monitored through a Joint Project Selection Committee of the Embassy and the DILG.
On 22 April 2026, the Ambassador of India to the Philippines, Shri Harsh Kumar Jain, formally turned over the QIP Renovated and Equipped Primary Care Facility in Bacolod, Lanao del Norte, the first of the inaugural cycle of six QIPs. As of the brief, the second project, a Livelihood Training Center at the Municipality of Bobon, Northern Samar, was set to be turned over on 05 May 2026.
Humanitarian assistance
The brief states that India has offered humanitarian assistance to the Philippines from time to time, though at a modest level. On 20 January 2026, India dispatched 30 tons of humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) material to support local communities after natural calamities. Earlier assistance listed in the brief includes:
- 28 tons of relief material in February 2006
- $250,000 for Typhoon Reming in December 2006
- $200,000 for Typhoon Pablo in 2012
- $100,000 for the Bohol earthquake in 2013
- 15 tons of supplies for Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013
- $500,000 for Marawi City rehabilitation in 2017
In April 2020, the Embassy, with the support of Indian community organisations, handed over face masks worth nearly US$ 250,000 for COVID-19 frontliners.
Defence cooperation
The brief describes defence cooperation as one of the strong pillars of bilateral relations. India delivered the first batch of the BrahMos Missile system to the Philippines on 19 April 2024, making the Philippines the first foreign nation to acquire the system. The two countries conducted their first-ever bilateral maritime exercise from 03-04 August 2025 in the South China Sea.
Agreements and committees
A Defence Cooperation Agreement was signed in 2006, and a Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) at Joint Secretary level was set up under it. The JDCC has met five times. The 5th JDCC was held on 11 September 2024 in Manila, at Defence Secretary level for the first time, together with the 3rd Service to Service (STS) Meeting.
During the State Visit of August 2025, the two countries signed Terms of Reference (ToR) for Service-to-Service Staff Talks between their Army, Navy and Air Force. A ToR for an Implementing Arrangement (IA) on coordination and maritime cooperation between the Indian Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard was also signed, and India invited the Philippines to participate in the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR).
An MoU on Defence Industry and Logistics cooperation was signed in November 2017, and a Joint Defence Industry and Logistics Committee (JDILC) was set up under it. The JDILC has met thrice, most recently on 11 March 2022.
Visits and defence industry contacts
Philippine Secretary of National Defense Mr. Delfin Lorenzana visited India in March 2018 for the first ever bilateral Defence Ministerial visit. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh met Secretary of National Defense Mr. Gilbert Teodoro on the sidelines of the 18th ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and 11th ADMM Plus in Vientiane in November 2024. They met again at the ASEAN-India Defence Ministers' Informal Meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 30 October 2025.
Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines, visited India from 17-19 March 2025 and from 05-07 March 2026 for the 10th and 11th Raisina Dialogue. On both visits he met his Indian counterpart, General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defence Staff.
The Embassy of India hosted an India-Philippines Defence Seminar on 02 March 2026 with senior officials from the Department of National Defense, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Armed Forces, together with think tanks, academic institutions and Indian defence industry representatives. On 03 March 2026, Secretary of National Defense Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. interacted with a delegation of 30 Indian defence companies led by the Ambassador of India to the Philippines.
Maritime cooperation
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Commandant CG Admiral Artemio Abu visited India for the first time in August 2023. An MOU on Enhanced Maritime Cooperation was signed during that visit, together with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to operationalise the MoU on exchange of White Shipping Information (2019).
The Inaugural India-PH Track-1 Maritime Dialogue was held in Manila in December 2024. It followed an IN-PH Maritime Track 2 Dialogue, co-chaired by the National Maritime Foundation and Stratbase ADR Institute of the Philippines, in Manila in September 2023.
The Indian Navy and the Philippines Navy are working on hydrographic cooperation, with a first virtual conference held on 31 May 2022. As of the brief, an Implementing Arrangement on Hydrographic Cooperation between the National Hydrographic Office (NHO), India and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), Philippines was under consideration.
Indian Navy and Coast Guard ships regularly visit the Philippines. Five Indian Naval Ships visited in 2025. Earlier calls include INS Delhi, Shakti and Kiltan of the Eastern Fleet in May 2024, ICG Samudra Paheredar in March 2024, INS Kadmatt in December 2023, INS Satpura in June 2022, INS Ranvijay and INS Kora in August 2021, INS Kiltan in July 2021, INS Sahyadri and INS Kiltan in October 2019, and ICGS Shaunak in February 2019.
Training visits
Delegations from the College of Defence Management of India visited the Philippines in October 2015 and October 2018. A 27-member delegation from the Indian Army War College, Mhow visited in September 2019, and NDC delegations visited in May 2016, June 2022 and June 2024.
Agriculture
The brief identifies agriculture as another focus sector named by the leaders. A Revised MoU on Cooperation in Agriculture and Related Fields was signed on 13 November 2017. The 2nd meeting of the India-Philippines Joint Working Group (JWG) on Agriculture was held on 18 May 2018 in Manila, and the 3rd meeting was proposed for 2026 in New Delhi.
Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, met Mr. William Dar, Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Philippines, in New Delhi on 21 April 2022. At the request of the Philippine side, a training session on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) was organised in May 2022 for officials of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Finance and the Philippine Crop Insurance Commission (PCIC).
In October 2023, the first batch of ultra-low Glycemic Index (GI) rice samples developed by the International Rice Research Institute's Regional Research Center in Varanasi was presented to President Marcos Jr. at the 6th International Rice Congress in Manila. The Minister of Agriculture of Karnataka visited Manila from 14-17 October 2025 and witnessed the signing of an MoU between the University of Agricultural Sciences, Mandya, Bengaluru and IRRI, Los Banos.
Health and traditional medicine
According to the brief, the Philippines recognises India as a global leader in pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, and India continues to be one of the largest suppliers of pharma products to the Philippines. During the COVID pandemic, the Philippines was the first ASEAN Member State to grant Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
The India-Philippines MoU in the field of Health and Medicine was signed in New Delhi on 5 October 2007. Under it, the 4th meeting of the JWG on Health was held on 28 November 2025 in New Delhi, co-chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), India and the Director General, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health, Philippines. During the State Visit, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda met the Secretary, Department of Health, Mr. Teodoro J. Herbosa, on 05 August 2025. Dr. Teodoro Herbosa had earlier addressed the Health Minister's Session of the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS 3.0) by video message in August 2024.
An MOU on Cooperation in Traditional Medicine between the Philippines Institute of Traditional Medicine and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC) and the National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur was signed on 19 April 2022. The Ministry of AYUSH sponsored a Philippine delegation led by Dr. Ma. Teresa C. Iñigo, Director General of PITAHC, to the 2nd WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine in New Delhi from 17-19 December 2025.
Science, technology and space
A new bilateral Programme of Cooperation (POC) in science and technology for 2025-2028 was signed during the State Visit of August 2025. It covers eight areas, including agricultural biotechnology, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing, energy storage systems, vaccine development, and ocean and atmospheric sciences. During the visit, the Indian Government also announced support for a pilot project to set up the Philippines' Sovereign Data Cloud Infrastructure.
On 5 March 2024, the Embassy of India hosted the First India-Philippines Tech Summit (IPTS) with MeitY, DPIIT, the Philippine Department of Information & Communication Technology (DICT) and the Philippines Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PCCI). It focused on agriculture, finance and health, and more than 300 Filipino representatives and 50 Indian companies took part.
The brief describes space as a new area of engagement. Scientists of the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA) have taken part in training programmes in India. In June 2023, the Department of Space/ISRO held a preliminary interaction with PhilSA, and phase-wise collaboration starting with capacity building courses was agreed. An SoI between ISRO and PhilSA was signed during the State Visit in August 2025.