India, Singapore hold 3+3 ministerial roundtable conference in New Delhi

In a bid to strengthen existing cooperation and identify opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration in new and emerging areas, Singapore's ministerial delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong arrived in India on Saturday. Wong, along with his ministers, participated in the inaugural India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR). The delegation that includes Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan, trade and industry minister Gan Kim Yong, and minister-in-charge of trade relations S Iswaran, along with Wong, met other Indian counterparts including external affairs minister S Jaishankar, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the ISMR conference held in New Delhi.

India, Singapore hold ministerial roundtable conference in New Delhi

The India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable is a new ministerial platform where both countries' foreign, trade, and finance ministers will hold discussions to further strengthen bilateral ties. During his 5-day visit, Wong will likely meet senior Indian leaders. Also, the delegation is scheduled to travel to Gujarat on September 18, 2022, where he will meet Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel and visit Gujarat International Finance City.

India-Singapore ties

India and Singapore have shared strong bilateral bonds based on the convergence of economic and political interests. Since the early 1990s, the economic reforms in India, coupled with traditional cultural and business links, opened up possibilities for a strong economic relationship between the two countries. Notably, Singapore has also played an important role in reconnecting India to the countries of South East Asia since the inception of our Look East Policy in the early 1990s.

As pluralistic societies, the two countries share similar concerns about the challenges posed by terrorism and religious extremism and have therefore found it mutually beneficial to evolve a broad framework of security cooperation. Singapore is India’s largest trade and investment partner in ASEAN. Economic and commercial ties have expanded significantly, particularly after the conclusion of the CECA in 2005. Bilateral trade registered a turnover of US$ 21.3 billion in 2012-13.

Image: ANI

With Inputs from PTI