On Thursday, India and Singapore upgraded their relations to a "comprehensive strategic partnership" and signed four MoUs, including one on cooperation in the semiconductor industry, during which companies of the prosperous city-state pledged to invest about USD 60 billion in the next few years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who came here from Brunei on a two-day visit, described Singapore as a role model for developing nations and said that India wished to create "several Singapores" of its own during his talks with Premier Lawrence Wong.
"Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @LawrenceWongST held productive talks today. Deliberated on ways to further deepen India-Singapore partnership across key sectors including technology, healthcare, trade, skilling, and more," the prime minister's office posted on X.
Later, Modi held a roundtable with top business leaders and CEOs in Singapore, where he spoke about ways to deepen economic linkages. Highlighting the reforms underway in India, which will encourage investment and innovation, Modi invited the Singaporean business leaders to look at investment opportunities in India in sectors like aviation, energy, and skill development.
At the roundtable with the business leaders, Singaporean companies have pledged an investment of roughly about USD 60 billion in the next few years, officials said.
"Collaborative initiatives have been identified in areas such as skilling, digitalisation, mobility, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and AI, health care, sustainability and cybersecurity," Modi said during his meeting with Wong.
The Indian premier described Singapore as an "important facilitator" of India's Act East policy. "Our strategic partnership is completing a decade. Over the past 10 years, our trade has more than doubled. Mutual investment has increased almost threefold to cross 150 billion dollars. Singapore was the first country with which we launched the UPI Person-to-Person payment facility," Modi said.
Noting that over the last decade, 17 satellites of Singapore have been launched from Indian soil, Modi said the bilateral cooperation has gained momentum from skilling to the defence sector.
"I am pleased that today, we are together elevating our relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," he said.
Exchange of MoUs on cooperation in semiconductors, digital technologies, skill development, and healthcare between both sides were witnessed by the two leaders. These are the outcomes of the deliberations during the two rounds of India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtables held so far.
Prime Minister Modi also announced the setting up of an Invest India office in Singapore that will act as a handholding office for investors in Singapore in various areas identified in the six pillars.
At the talks, both leaders reviewed the existing cooperation in the fields of defence and security, maritime domain awareness, education, AI, Fintech, new technology domains, science and technology and knowledge partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
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 a joint statement, the two countries vowed to work together on the advancement of peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific region, allowing free trade and open markets to prosper.
The two leaders "reaffirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea," the joint statement said, referring to China in veiled language, which claims the bulk of the South China Sea while counterclaims are made by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Taiwan.
Modi further said that India's first Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre would be inaugurated shortly in Singapore. "The great saint Thiruvalluvar provided guiding thoughts to the world in the most ancient language Tamil. His work, the Thirukkural, was composed nearly 2,000 years ago, yet its ideas remain relevant today," he added.
The two leaders exchanged views on the outcome of the 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable to be held in Singapore in August 2024. They also discussed plans for celebrating 60 years of bilateral ties in 2025.
The Prime Minister invited Wong to pay a visit to India, which he accepted.
Modi thanked Wong for the warmth of the welcome. "This is our first meeting after you assumed the post of premier. Many congratulations to you from my side. I am confident under the leadership of 4G, Singapore will progress even faster," Modi said.
"The discussions with my friend, PM Lawrence Wong continued today. Our talks focused on boosting cooperation in areas like skilling, technology, healthcare, AI and more. We both agreed on the need to boost trade relations," Modi later said in a post on X.
Wong said Singapore and India enjoy a deep and abiding friendship, anchored in strong economic and people-to-people linkages.
"Had a productive meeting with Indian Prime Minister @narendramodi at Parliament House. We've set out a forward-looking agenda for the next phase of our bilateral relations," he said in a posting on X.
"This includes closer cooperation in areas like sustainability, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies and connectivity. We're also upgrading the Singapore-India Strategic Partnership to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," he added.
"This is timely as we expand our partnership in new, mutually beneficial areas. We also celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations and our Strategic Partnership's 10th anniversary next year," Wong said.
Singapore looks forward to strengthening bilateral ties and creating new opportunities for the people of the two nations, he said.
Ahead of the talks with Wong, Modi received a ceremonial welcome at the Parliament House.
This is also several months after Wong came into office as premier and Modi began his third term as prime minister.
Modi and Wong also visited a leading Singaporean company in the semiconductor and electronics sector and discussed ways for collaboration in this critical industry. It is his fifth visit as prime minister; all prior visits were made in the first term as prime minister.
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