Singapore, India sign strategic partnership agreement

INDIA'S Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and his Singapore counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, held substantive discussions and signed a strategic partnership between the two countries on Tuesday.

Earlier, Mr Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome and during the day he called on President Tony Tan and met Emeritus Senior Minister, Goh Chok Tong. He was hosted to an official lunch by Mr Lee.

The two Prime Ministers affirmed that India and Singapore enjoyed long traditions of friendship based on mutual trust, respect and a shared history. Against the backdrop of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Singapore, they signed a joint declaration establishing a strategic partnership to elevate bilateral relations to a higher level.

It was decided to sustain the momentum of bilateral relations and on the continuation of regular exchanges under the agreed dialogue mechanisms between the Foreign Ministries and the Defence Ministries of the two countries.

The strategic partnership document reaffirmed the importance of defence relations between India and Singapore. A revised Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) under the ambit of an Enhanced Defence Partnership (EDP), signed by India's Minister of Defence, Manohar Parrikar, and Singapore's Minister for Defence, Ng Eng Hen, was symbolically exchanged in Singapore on Tuesday and witnessed by the two Prime Ministers.

The two Prime Ministers recognised that bilateral business and commercial linkages constitute key drivers of the wide-ranging India-Singapore partnership.