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.