• Singaporean Prime Minister reached Delhi on Tuesday accompanied by his spouse and a high-level delegation.
• Talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be held on Thursday, focused on boosting cooperation and solar energy exports
• Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Singapore’s crucial role in India’s Act East policy
Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong reached New Delhi on Tuesday for a three-day trip to India, during which five agreements aimed towards boosting ties in shipping, civil aviation and space sectors are expected to be concluded.
He is accompanied by his spouse and a high-level delegation including Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Transport and Finance Minister Jeffrey Siow.
This is Wong’s first visit to India, during which the Prime Minister is hoping to explore further opportunities for expanding two-way economic engagements between the two countries, based on their foundational complementarities. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold talks with Wong on Thursday, after which they are scheduled to virtually inaugurate a container terminal at Nhava Sheva port in Mumbai.
According to PTI, these talks are expected to focus on finalising a roadmap for boosting economic cooperation, skills training, digitalisation, sustainability, connectivity, healthcare and medicine, and defence and security. They are also likely to confer on joint development of small modular reactors in the civil nuclear sector and engage on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
The trip was announced on Tuesday by the Ministry of External Affairs, as reported by The Hindu, who highlighted Singapore’s crucial role for India’s ‘Act East’ policy. The India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable met on 13 August to prepare for the trip, where Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held talks with six Singaporean ministers.
According to PTI, the two countries are exploring the possibility of exporting solar energy from India to Singapore via an underwater cable which can also be used for data connectivity, and a financial data regulatory “sandbox” has been created at Gift City in Gujarat.
The trip also coincides with the 60th anniversary of India-Singapore diplomatic relations and is meant to “reaffirm” the two countries’ continued commitment to their strategic partnership, which was elevated during Modi’s trip to Singapore in September last year.
