India-Singapore relations poised for bigger take-off: MEA

New Delhi, Sep 02: Building on “new anchors” of partnership identified under the India-Singapore ministerial roundtable framework, the relation between the two countries is poised for an even bigger take-off, the MEA said Monday ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation.

Prime Minister Modi is slated to visit Singapore on September 4-5 at the invitation of his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong.

Before that, he is scheduled to visit Brunei on September 3-4 at the invitation of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in all existing sectors.

Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Jaideep Mazumdar, at a media briefing here, said India and Brunei are working towards setting up a “joint working group in defence”.

Prime Minister Modi is visiting Singapore after nearly six years, he said.

His last visit to Singapore was in his first term. And an early visit on his third term is something that has been “welcomed by the Singaporean side”.

“Also, this comes at a time when a new leader is in Singapore and this is an opportune time to set the stage for the next stage of our vibrant bilateral relations,” Mazumdar said.

The Secretary (East) said India-Singapore ties have “evolved” and there is a “dynamic strategic partnership” encompassing various areas from shared history and people-to-people ties that form an important link between the two countries.

“Our trade and investment flows have shown a steady growth, we have a robust defence cooperation and growing exchanges in culture and education. We have identified new anchors of our partnership under the India-Singapore ministerial roundtable framework,” he said.

Four Indian ministers participated in the recently held second India-Singapore ministerial roundtable.

During the roundtable, the ministers from both sides discussed “new thrust areas that we can identify in futuristic areas of cooperation”, Mazumdar said.

“A number of new, forward-looking futuristic areas of cooperation were identified in digitisation, sustainability skill, health, advance manufacturing and connectivity, and we are likely to exchange a number of MoUs during the forthcoming visit of the prime minister,” he added.

Singapore is India’s largest trade partner in the ASEAN bloc and the country is a leading source of foreign direct investment.

It is India’s sixth largest trade partner worldwide and was the largest source of FDI during the last financial year valued at USD 11.77 billion, he said.

“We also expect the visit (to Singapore) to give thrust to the cooperation in the field of semiconductors,” the top official of the MEA said.

“India-Singapore relations are poised for an even bigger takeoff, than what it has been in the last 10-15 years or so. That is because, we have gone to the next level of identifying areas of bilateral cooperation whether it be in food security, renewables, green hydrogen and semiconductors. These are areas where we have great complementarities,” said Mazumdar.

He said that he could see the relationship between the two sides taking off to the next stage.

For Singapore, India presents tremendous opportunities and for India, Singapore presents with many options, whether it is value chain, digital technology, and semiconductors, he added.

There will be an interaction with the CEOs and other business leaders in Singapore during Prime Minister Modi’s visit.

“The visit will also take place in light of our 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations which we are celebrating in 2025, and the 10th year of our strategic partnership with Singapore,” he added.

Asked if the South China Sea and Myanmar issues are expected to come up during discussions, Mazumdar said that he expected so.

Modi’s visit to Brunei will be the first bilateral visit of an Indian prime minister to that country. It will also mark 40 years of diplomatic ties between India and Brunei.

“Brunei is an important partner in India’s ‘Act East’ Policy and its vision for the Indo-Pacific. And, as we mark a decade of our ‘Act East’ policy, the visit assumes additional significance,” the MEA official said.

Brunei had been “our country coordinator in ASEAN” from 2012-2015, and played a key role in “our further engagement with ASEAN and continues to do so today”.

The visit will further strengthen India’s cooperation with Brunei in all existing sectors, including defence cooperation, trade and investment, energy, space technology, health cooperation, capacity building, culture as well as people-to-people exchanges and explore avenues for cooperation in newer sectors, the MEA said earlier.

“We have received a valuable contribution from Brunei in our space programme. We have three MoUs with Brunei in this area. We have established a telemetry tracking and command station in Brunei in 2000 and this tracks and monitors all our eastward launches of satellites and launch vehicles,” Mazumdar said.

Defence is another important pillar in the cooperation. “We are still in discussion with Brunei in setting up a joint working group in defence. But, nothing specific yet,” he added.