India Saturday night said the fight against terrorism served as a "valuable base" for mutual understanding with the Philippines and singled out defence-related industries as an area holding out "excellent prospects" for cooperation between the two countries.
"Convergence of our views on global trade issues under the World Trade Organisation and our common resolve to combat terrorism provide a valuable base for mutual understanding," President A P J Abdul Kalam said at a banquet hosted in his honour by his Philippine counterpart Gloria Arroyo.
Pointing out that Indo-Philippines relations were "beginning, after a long period of stagnation, to deepen and diversify," Kalam said prospects for technical cooperation between the two countries were "excellent in sectors such as dairy and other agri-based industry, CNG for public transport, bio thermal energy and in space and defence-related industries".
The President said the two countries should work to enhance bilateral trade to $20 billion in the next four years.
In her speech, Arroyo proposed alternative sources of energy-biofuel from Jathropa and in pharmaceuticals, two areas of cooperation between India and the Philippines.