Indian PM Modi makes two-day official visit to Singapore
Modi’s visit follows shortly after the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable last week
INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Singapore on a two-day official visit from Wednesday (Sep 4) at the invitation of the city-state’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
This is Modi’s first trip to South-east Asia since his re-election in early June. It includes a historic visit to Brunei on Tuesday, the first time an Indian PM has visited the sultanate. However, this is Modi’s fifth visit to Singapore. He last made an official visit here in 2018.
Shortly after arriving on Wednesday late afternoon, Modi was hosted to dinner by PM Wong at the Istana. In a Facebook post, PM Wong said he is “delighted” to have a chance to catch up before their official meetings the next day.
On Thursday, Modi will receive an official welcome at Parliament House, where he will also call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and meet PM Wong, said Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Modi will also meet Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.
PM Wong and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong will host separate meals for Modi during his visit.
The Indian leader will also engage businesses in Singapore, including participating in a roundtable organised by the Singapore Business Federation. There will also be an opportunity for him to engage semiconductor industry players.
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Additionally, he will meet students from Singapore in the India Ready Talent Programme who did internships in India, as well as Odisha World Skill Center interns in Singapore companies.
He will be accompanied by India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, as well as other government officials.
Modi’s visit follows the second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) in the city-state last week, where both countries agreed to add two new areas of discussion to the high-level platform: advanced manufacturing and semiconductors, as well as aviation and maritime connectivity.
Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Aug 26 said India is looking for opportunities while studying Singapore’s ecosystem, given the latter’s outsized capability in chip-making. This in turn presents opportunities for Singapore companies, since India is poised for significant growth.
Although Modi’s visit marks PM Wong’s first meeting with the Indian leader since he assumed the top job in May, it was PM Wong who launched the ISMR two years ago during a visit to India.
One outcome of the first ISMR was a link-up between the digital payment systems of the two countries – Singapore’s PayNow and India’s Unified Payments Interface – launched last February.
Bilateral economic relations are anchored by the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement signed in 2005. Annual bilateral trade has since grown by 2.5 times to S$51.2 billion in 2022, compared with S$20 billion when the agreement came into force.
Singapore is India’s top foreign investor and has accounted for about 23 per cent of India’s foreign direct investment equity inflows since 2000.
Indian investment in Singapore grew to S$25.3 billion in 2022, up from S$481 million in 2004.
Singapore and India will celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations next year, which also marks the 10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
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