India and Singapore elevated their bilateral relations to the level of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on Thursday, during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Prime Minister Modi and Singapore PM Lawrence Wong met at the Parliament House in Singapore, where the two leaders, along with their delegations, held the bilateral meeting. Following this, the two sides exchanged four MoUs in the areas of digital technology, semiconductor, skill development and healthcare.
Prime Minister Modi invited PM Lawrence Wong to visit India, which he accepted.
At their talks, both leaders reviewed the progress of India - Singapore bilateral relations.
"Given the breadth and depth of bilateral ties and immense potential, they decided to elevate the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This would also give a major boost to India's Act East Policy," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Taking stock of the robust progress in economic ties, the leaders called for further expanding trade and investment flows between the two countries. Prime Minister highlighted that Singapore, with an investment of around USD 160 billion in the Indian economy, is a leading economic partner for India. He further noted that rapid and sustained growth in India has opened up immense investment opportunities for Singaporean entities.
The two leaders also reviewed existing cooperation in the fields of defence and security, maritime domain awareness, education, AI, Fintech, new technology domains, science and technology, and knowledge partnership. They further called for strengthening connectivity between the countries to enhance economic and people-to-people ties. They also called for acceleration in green corridor projects.
PM Modi and PM Wong also discussed the outcome of the 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable held in Singapore in August 2024.
"Noting that the Ministerial Roundtable is a unique mechanism, the leaders appreciated the work done by senior ministers from both sides in deliberating and identifying a new agenda for bilateral cooperation. The leaders called for accelerated action under the pillars of cooperation identified during the Ministerial Roundtables – Advanced Manufacturing, Connectivity, Digitalisation, Healthcare & Medicine, Skills Development and Sustainability," the release stated.
The leaders underscored that the cooperation under these pillars, particularly in the areas of semiconductors and critical and emerging technologies, opens a new chapter in bilateral relations, making our ties future-orientated.
The discussion also covered celebration of 60th anniversary of bilateral relations in 2025. Highlighting that cultural connect between the two countries is an important component of these ties, Prime Minister announced that India's first Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre would be opened in Singapore, the release added.
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. Terming Singapore an "important anchor" of India's Act East Policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the elevation of ties.
The Indian Prime Minister highlighted that the trade between the two countries has more than doubled in the last 10 years. He also noted that 17 satellites of Singapore have been launched from India in last 10 years.
"A decade of our strategic partnership is being completed. Our trade has more than doubled in the last ten years. Mutual investment has increased almost three times to cross $150 billion. Singapore was the first country with which we launched the Person to Person payment facility of UPI," PM Modi said.
"In the last 10 years, 17 satellites of Singapore have been launched from India. Our cooperation has gained momentum from skilling to defence sector. The agreement between Singapore Airlines and Air India has strengthened connectivity. I am happy that today we are together giving our relations the shape of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," he added.
Recalling age-old ties between the two nations, PM Modi thanked Singapore for the respectful treatment of freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose. He added that the bilateral ties will complete 60 years in 2025.
(ANI)