India Singapore fortify ties of friendship

In 2018, India and Singapore had added new momentum and direction in the Strategic Partnership, when Prime Minister Modi visited Singapore from May 31 to June 2, 2018 and his second visit on November 14-15 for attending the ASEAN-India and RCEP and 13th East Asia Summit.

PM Modi became the first Indian PM to deliver a keynote address at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue on June 1, 2018.

In the November 2018 visit, he also became the first Head of Government to deliver the keynote address at the Singapore Fintech Festival, the world’s largest Fintech event.

Now Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached Singapore once again on Wednesday, marking the beginning of a significant second leg of his two-day nation visit. He is slated to hold numerous engagements in the city-state on Thursday as well. This visit is poised to further bolster the bilateral ties between India and Singapore.

PM Modi expressed his happiness at meeting his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong anandhad an excellent discussion on a wide range of issues. Wong also shared a picture of their meeting on X and welcomed PM Modi for dinner at Istana, the official residence and office of the president of Singapore.

Prime Minister Modi, who concluded a historic visit to Brunei, was received by the Singaporean Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugham at the Changi airport on Wednesday and received a warm welcome from the Indian community.

He also tried his hand at playing the dhol there. Sharing from pictures, PM Modi later posted on X and said, “Thank you, Singapore! The welcome was truly vibrant.”

Regarding PM Modi’s visit to Singapore, Randhir Jaiswal highlighted the significance of the trip, and said that it will provide a major boost to India’s Act East policy, aligning with India’s vision for the Indo-Pacific region and further strengthening economic and technological ties between the two countries.

Jaiswal, said, “This visit is important as it gives a major push to India’s Act East policy to India’s vision of the Indo-Pacific to India-Singapore economic ties and to India-Singapore technological ties. All these are very important for both countries.”

“He has meetings with the Prime Minister of Singapore in the morning, where he will also receive a ceremonial welcome and thereafter, he will have meetings with the President of Singapore and with the Emeritus Senior Minister and several other dignitaries. He will also visit AEM, which is a semiconductor facility, along with the Prime Minister of Singapore. PM also has business engagement; he will be meeting CEOs of Singaporean companies,” Jaiswal said, while sharing a post on X. Many MoUs are expected to be signed during the visit. He will also meet with leaders of Singapore’s vibrant business community.

 With shared history, a long tradition of friendship based on trust and mutual respect, and extensive cooperation across a wide range of areas, India-Singapore cooperation has deepened and diversified over the years. The close ties between India and Singapore have a history rooted in strong commercial, cultural and people-to-people links across a millennium.