Why in news?
Prime Minister Modi visited Singapore during the second leg of a two-nation trip to South-East Asia, having travelled to Brunei Darussalam in the first leg.
What’s in today’s article?
- India – Singapore relation
- Key highlights of the visit
India - Singapore Relations
- Background
- Sir Stamford Raffles, in 1819, established a trading station in Singapore on the route of the Straits of Malacca which later became a crown colony and was governed from Kolkata till 1867.
- The colonial connection is reflected in institutions and practices, usage of English and presence of a large Indian community.
- India was one of the first countries to recognize Singapore in 1965.
- India-Singapore relations were elevated to Strategic Partnership during the visit of PM Modi to Singapore in 2015.
- India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR)
- The inaugural meeting of the ISMR took place in September 2022 in New Delhi.
- The 2nd round of ISMR was held in Singapore in August 2024.
- The Ministers reviewed the progress of India – Singapore Strategic Partnership, particularly under the pillars of Digitalization, Skills Development, Sustainability, Healthcare & Medicine, identified during the 1st meeting of ISMR.
- It was decided to add two new pillars, Advanced Manufacturing and Connectivity for further strengthening bilateral cooperation.
- Trade and economic cooperation
- Singapore is India’s largest trade partner in ASEAN.
- It is the leading source of FDI, among the largest sources of External Commercial Borrowings and Foreign Portfolio Investment.
- Trade
- Bilateral trade expanded after the conclusion of CECA from USD 6.7 billion in FY 2004-05 to USD 35.6 billion in 2023-24.
- Singapore is India’s 6th largest trade partner (2023-24) with a share of 3.2 % of India’s overall trade.
- India’s imports from Singapore in FY 23-24 were US$ 21.2 billion, and exports to Singapore totaled US$ 14.4 billion.
- Investments
- In FY 2023-24 Singapore was the largest source of FDI into India.
- FDI equity inflows in India from Singapore during 2023-24 stood at US$ 11.774 billion.
- The cumulative FDI inflows from Singapore to India stood at USD 159.9 billion (April 2000– March 2024) which is 24 percent of total FDI inflows in India.
- The outward Indian FDI to Singapore stands at USD 4.8 billion (FY 2023-24).
- Fintech cooperation
- Commercial and technical arrangements have also been worked out for the acceptance of RuPay card in Singapore.
- UPI-Paynow Linkage is another landmark development in the area of cross-border Fintech.
- Singapore is the first nation with which India has begun this cross-border Person-to-Person (P2P) payment facility.
- S&T Cooperation
- In the past ten years, 17 satellites of Singapore have been launched from Indian soil.
- Singapore co-hosted inaugural ASEAN – India Women Scientists Conclave in April 2024.
- India and Singapore held an e-workshop in the area of digital health and medical technologies in July 2024.
- Multilateral cooperation
- Singapore has joined International Solar Alliance (In June 2023) and Global Bio-fuel Alliance (September 2023).
- Singapore was ASEAN Country Coordinator for India for period 2021-24, during which India-ASEAN relations were upgraded to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
- India and Singapore are part of multilateral groups like IORA, NAM and Commonwealth.
- Indian Community
- Ethnic Indians constitute about 9.1 % or around 3.5 lakhs of the resident population of 3.9 million in Singapore.
- Tamil is one of the four official languages of Singapore. Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Bengali and Punjabi are also offered in schools.
Key highlights of the visit
- Bilateral ties elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership
- During this visit, India and Singapore elevated their bilateral ties to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”.
- Four Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) signed:
- Cooperation in the Field of Digital Technologies;
- India-Singapore Semiconductor Ecosystem Partnership;
- Cooperation in the Field of Health and Medicine;
- Educational Cooperation and Skills Development.
- Boost to trade and investment flows between the two countries
- Leaders of both the sides called for further expanding trade and investment flows between the two countries.
- PM Modi highlighted that Singapore with an investment of around USD 160 billion in the Indian economy, is a leading economic partner for India.
- Discussed the outcome of the 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable
- The two leaders discussed the outcome of the 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable held in Singapore in August 2024.
- the Ministerial Roundtable is a unique mechanism where senior ministers from both sides deliberates and identifies new agendas for bilateral cooperation.
- The roundtable had identified the six pillars of cooperation— advanced manufacturing, connectivity, digitalisation, healthcare & medicine, skills development and sustainability.
- Boost to cultural connectivity
- The leaders also discussed the celebration of the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations in 2025.
- PM Modi announced that India’s first Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre would be opened in Singapore.