There is significant potential for economic collaboration between India and Philippines: President Kovind

Manila [Philippines], Oct 19 (ANI): President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday said there is significant potential for economic collaboration between India and the Philippines.
"The potential for Philippines-India economic collaboration is significant. Both countries share mutual complementarities which can be utilised to deepen trade and investment ties," he said.
Kovind, who was addressing the India-Philippines Business Conclave and 4th India-ASEAN Business summit here, said the two countries are among the fastest-growing economies and are committed to inclusive growth, fighting corruption and bringing about transformative changes in people's life.
The President said that India's 'Make in India' and next-generation infrastructure programmes and the Philippines' 'Build, Build, Build' infrastructure initiative present immense opportunities for companies and investors on both sides.
Highlighting that in the coming years, India will be spending about USD 1.3 trillion to develop next-generation infrastructure projects, he said: "A focussed business approach, which combines investors with opportunities, and partnerships with projects, is the way forward. I am happy that your deliberations earlier today have been most helpful on this score."
Reminding that India is the sixth-largest economy in the world and has set a target to become a 5 trillion dollars economy by 2025, the President said: "India's economic and business environment is undergoing a transformation like never before. We have undertaken path-breaking taxation and banking reforms."
"Our sustained reform efforts have led to a spectacular jump of 65 places for India on the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index. We have also moved 44 ranks on the Logistics Performance Index. We have worked hard to strengthen the IPR regime," he said.
The President also talked about the recent slashing in corporate tax rate "to boost growth and investment."
"As a result of our efforts, in the last five years, we have received FDI worth 286 billion US dollars. This is half of India's total FDI inflow in the last 20 years," said the President.
"I am told that the 'GO NEGOSYO' movement in the Philippines has made a significant contribution to fostering new enterprises. I had the pleasure of presenting India's Padma Shri award to Presidential Advisor for Entrepreneurship, Jose Conception present here, in New Delhi, last year for his work in this field," he added.
The President expressed happiness over the second ASEAN-India Innovation and Technology Summit taking place in Davao in November 2019 and wished it 'all success.'
The President termed the ASEAN-India relations as 'special' and said: "Our 'Act East' policy puts this region at the centre of our engagement with the Indo-Pacific."
"ASEAN-India trade has jumped significantly in the past few years. Last year alone, the trade increased by 19 per cent to reach 96.79 billion US dollars. However, we still have a long distance to cover to reach the target of 200 billion US dollars by 2022," said President Kovind. (ANI)