On Monday, the second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable or ISMR was conducted in Singapore. While making their speeches during the meeting, both the leaders of India and Singapore stressed upon the measures to intensify cooperation in new and promising spheres.ISMR six pillars were also discussed by both sides, which are digitalisation, skill development, sustainability, healthcare and medicine, advanced manufacturing and connectivity.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong seeking to identify new areas to further strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership.
Table of Contents
India-Singapore bilateral relations
India was among the first few countries that promptly recognised Singapore after it attained independence in 1965. India and Singapore relations are anchored with similarity of perception and culture, economic benefit and similarity of perception on major issues. Political engagement is regular. Defence is easily the most developed facet of the bilateral relations. Interstate economic and technological relations are close and are steadily intensifying. Communications are very active in terms of cultural as well as human relation.
It should be noted that there are over twenty permanent bilateral cooperation bodies, discussions, and processes. On most global affairs they are very much on the same page, both are part of the EAS (East Asia Summit), G20, Commonwealth, IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association), and IONS (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium).
Singapore’s geographical location at the centre of the ASEAN countries make it an ideal entry point for India to penetrate into the ASEAN market and other neighboring countries. It brings benefit to India by expanding its connectivity, business and investment, in the region of southeast Asia, East Asia and the pacific. – India’s ‘Act East’ policy dovetails conveniently with Singapore’s ‘Global-Asia’ plan, increasing cooperation between both countries.
Based on the analyses it can be concluded that India-Singapore relations are shaped by the regional processes. However, as India is looking to balance its equations with China and the US and other major players these dynamics and hence aligning interests with Singapore’s strategic location are not always easy.
The 2nd round of ministerial roundtable
The ISMR is a form of bi-lateral meeting that is organized by the Singapore and India ministers with both parties being allowed to express their views on issues that affect both nations. Its first was the meeting in 2022. The second ISMR also discussed the post-analysis of the first meeting happened in New Delhi and define the new areas of growth cooperation.
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman – Minister of Finance, Piyush Goyal – Minister of Commerce and Industry, S Jaishankar – Minister of External Affairs and Ashwini Vaishnaw – Minister of Railways, Information and Broadcasting participated in second round of India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) held in Singapore on 26th August 2024.
On the Singaporeian side, the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister for Trade and Industry, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Home Affairs, Minister for Law, Minister for Digital Development and Information, Minister for Manpower and Minister of Transport participated in the meeting.
The Indian ministers also had an interaction with the Singapore president, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and the Singapore prime minister, Lawrence Wong. Wong, the Singapore’s head of the delegation at the first ministerial roundtable in his position as the deputy premier stated that the ISMR is a useful instrument to enhance the bilateral relations with Indonesia.
The teams also touched upon the schedule to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations as well as bilateral cooperation in different regions and in the context of the ASEAN and the G20. The leaders pointed out that the interactions at the first course of ISMR have led to signing of agreements in various forms of cooperation including health care, education and skill development, ICT cooperation, and semiconductor ecosystem cooperation.
The Ministers discussed on the status of India – Singapore Strategic Partnership, especially within the sectors of Digitalization, Skills Development, Sustainability, Healthcare & Medicine that were discovered during the 1st meeting of ISMR. They discussed about the prospects of working further and reached a consensus to add two more tracks, Advanced Manufacturing and Connectivity to augment the bilateral relations further. The Ministers also decided to convene the next round of ISMR in India at datetime which will be mutually agreed by the Ministers.
India and Singapore are strategic trading partners as well as investors in each other’s economies. The recently concluded visit set the foundation for deepening the existing broad-based cooperation between the two nations.
1 Comment
Pingback: Prime Minister’s Historic Visit to Brunei and Singapore: Stronger Bilateral Ties - Indo-Pacific Times