PHILIPPINE NEWS SERVICE — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is set to sign a bilateral air agreement with India that will grant more entitlements to three local carriers during her visit to New Delhi next month.
“India is a very big economy and we should not be left behind in the radar screen. We have to take advantage of the air rights that they are giving us,” Mrs. Arroyo said in an interview in Zamboanga del Norte yesterday.
Mrs. Arroyo said the bilateral air accord that will benefit Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines, is one of her main agenda during her state visit to India on Oct. 4 in a bid to boost the country’s growing tourism industry.
Indians, along with South Koreans and Russians, have been among growth drivers of the Philippine tourism sector, accounting for at least 1.8 million of all tourists arriving in the country from January to July this year.
The air accord with New Delhi is among the agreements, which the President wanted to be prioritized by the Civil Aeronautics Board, along with air accords being negotiated with Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Cambodia, New Zealand and Russia.
The Philippine air panel—composed of representatives of the Departments of Transportation and Communication, Trade and Industry, Tourism, and Foreign Affairs as well as the CAB and local airlines—has sealed an air pact with South Korea resulting in increased bilateral seat entitlements from 7,000 to 19,000.
President Arroyo said that another item on her agenda during her state visit is the procurement of more cheap medicine from India, which is a primary source of the Philippine International Trading Co. for off-patent drugs.
“The procurement of cheap priced medicines is not the monopoly of the PITC. So when I go to India I plan to take with me representatives of local drugstores. Anybody can import these medicines even without the PITC because it is just acting as a pioneer agency,” she said.
PITC has been given a budget of P1 billion to procure off-patent drugs from countries like India, in particular in the province of Mumbai, to bring generic medicine into the country.
Among the imported cheaper priced medicines are the generic form of Euglocon which is sold for only P6 per capsule in Botika ng Bayan stores while retailing at P11 in other private outlets, the anti-hypertensive drug Nifedipine which is sold in drug stores for P44 a tablet but only goes for P26 in government-run drugstores.
Mrs. Arroyo said she would also seek more investments from India as well as bilateral cooperation on the development of the jatropha plant (tubang bakod) as an alternative fuel source.
“India is a pioneer in the development of jatropha with their successful technology in converting it as substitute fuel,” the President noted.
Bilateral transactions reached $577 million in 2006 and both countries made a commitment to increase the two-way trade to $2 billion by 2010.
India’s exports to the country include primary and semi-finished iron and steel products with electronic goods accounting for a large chunk of the goods imported from the Philippines.