By News On Air Sep 05, 2024
India and Singapore have exchanged four Memorandums of Understanding for cooperation in the fields of health and medicine, education and skill development, digital technologies, and the India-Singapore Semiconductor Ecosystem Partnership. The two countries also agreed to elevate their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which would give a major boost to India’s Act East Policy. This was decided after delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, today. During the talks in Singapore, both leaders reviewed the progress of bilateral relations. Taking stock of the robust progress in economic ties, the two sides called for further expanding trade and investment flows between the two countries.
Prime Minister Modi highlighted that Singapore, with an investment of around 160 billion US dollars in the Indian economy, is a leading economic partner for India. He further said that rapid and sustained growth in India has opened up immense investment opportunities for Singaporean entities. Both Prime Ministers also reviewed existing cooperation in the fields of defense and security, maritime domain awareness, education, AI, fintech, new technology domains, science and technology, and knowledge partnership. The two leaders called for strengthening connectivity between the countries to enhance economic and people-to-people ties. They also called for acceleration in green corridor projects. The two leaders discussed the outcome of the 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable held in Singapore last month. Their discussion also covered the celebration of the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations in 2025. During the meeting, the leaders also exchanged views on important regional and global issues of mutual interest, including India-ASEAN relations and India’s vision for the Indo-Pacific.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Singapore is not only a partner country but also an inspiration for every developing nation. He added that the Ministerial Roundtable, which has been established between the two countries, is a groundbreaking mechanism. Mr. Modi said that the 350,000 people of Indian origin living in Singapore are a strong foundation of the relationship between the two countries. He also announced that India’s first Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre would be opened in Singapore.
Later, Prime Minister Modi and his Singaporean counterpart also visited AEM Holdings Ltd, a leading Singaporean company in the semiconductor and electronics sector. They were briefed about AEM’s role in the global semiconductor value chain, its operations, and plans for India. Prime Minister Modi invited Singaporean semiconductor companies to participate in the SEMICON INDIA exhibition to be held in Greater Noida this month. At the facility, the two Prime Ministers also interacted with Indian interns from Odisha’s World Skill Center undergoing training in Singapore, as well as Singaporean interns who had visited India under the CII-Enterprise Singapore India Ready Talent Programme and Indian engineers working at AEM.
Prime Minister Modi also met President of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam. During the meeting, Mr. Modi thanked the President for his passionate support for the partnership between the two countries. The discussions focused on avenues to broaden and deepen the cooperation between India and Singapore.
The CEOs of top Singaporean companies and business leaders also met Mr. Modi to pledge their commitment to invest in India. They include CEOs of Blackstone Singapore, Temasek Holdings, Sembcorp Industries Limited, CapitaLand Investment, ST Telemedia Global Data Centers, and Singapore Airlines. In a social media post, Mr. Modi said they talked about ways to deepen economic linkages. The Prime Minister highlighted the reforms underway in India, which will encourage investment and innovation.
Briefing the media about the Prime Minister’s meeting with Singaporean leadership, Secretary East in the External Affairs Ministry Jaideep Mazumdar said the discussions between the leadership of Singapore and Mr. Modi focused on how India and ASEAN, with Singapore as one of the most important partners, can contribute to making this an Asian century.