Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Singapore on an official visit on September 4 and 5 to further strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries. The Prime Minister’s visit comes a fortnight after a high-level roundtable meeting between top ministers of the two countries.
“Relations between India and Singapore are set to reach a whole new level of cooperation,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a special briefing on the Prime Minister’s visit.
Foreign Ministry Secretary (East) Jaideep Mazumdar said that Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Singapore is taking place after six years. He said that India and Singapore are considering significantly increasing their cooperation in the semiconductor sector.
He also said that the Prime Minister’s visit to Singapore is “important for trade and investment”.
“Singapore is India’s largest trading partner in ASEAN. It has also been a major source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the last fiscal year, with investments worth $11.77 billion in 2023 alone,” he said, adding that Singapore is India’s sixth largest trading partner worldwide.
He said that during his two-day visit, Prime Minister Modi will also address the Chief Executive Officers.
Mr Majumdar said, “Investments have also been huge. We have had cumulative FDI of US$ 160 billion since the year 2000. The Prime Minister’s visit will include interaction with business leaders. This will be an important element of the visit as the Prime Minister will be addressing the CEOs during his visit where they will hear India’s growth story first hand.”
He said, “Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to Singapore was in his first term as Prime Minister. This visit is very significant as it is taking place at the beginning of his term, and also the new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has recently been sworn in and the people of Singapore are excited to welcome Prime Minister Modi. This is an opportune time to set the stage for the next phase of India-Singapore bilateral relations. Our relations have evolved and we have a dynamic strategic partnership spanning diverse sectors ranging from our shared history and people-to-people ties, which are a vital link between us.”
Speaking about the special roundtable framework shared by the two countries, he said, “We have identified new grounds for our partnership under the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable framework. This visit will also mark the 60th anniversary of our diplomatic relations, which we will celebrate in 2025, and also the 10th year of our strategic partnership with Singapore.”
He said, “During the recently concluded India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable, a unique platform between Ministers from both sides on various sectors, several new forward-looking areas were identified in digitalisation, skills, sustainability, health, advanced manufacturing and connectivity. We are likely to exchange several MoUs in these areas during the upcoming visit of the Prime Minister.”