Need for people-to-people contact between between India and

The Ambassador of Philippines to India, Ramon S Bagatsing, Jr, said on Friday that there is need to strengthen people-to-people contact between the two countries to promote soft diplomacy. He also called for visits by more Indian tourists to Philippines for which an MoU between the tourism departments of the two countries is necessary to make travel easier.

Speaking at the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce and Industry here, the envoy said that while 2.8 million tourists from India visited Thailand last year, only 1.2 lakh of them visited Philippines. "There is good connectivity between India and Thailand in terms of direct flights. There are plans to operate direct flights between India and Phillipines by December 2020", he said.

Last year there was 10 per cent growth in the number of Indian tourists visting Phillipines, he said adding that an MoU between the tourism departments of the two countries will make travel easier between the two countries. The envoy said NASSCOM had signed an MoU with its counterpart in the Phillipines following which eight to ten Indian IT companies established BPO operations in that country employing over one lakh employees..