According to the MEA, both sides also discussed regional, global and multilateral issues of common interest…reports Asian Lite News
Following up on the intense political exchanges which have taken place this year, India and Singapore discussed areas of ongoing collaboration such as trade & investment as well as defence & security at the 17th Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) held in New Delhi on Monday (September 18, 2023).
Coming close on the heels of the visit of Prime Minister of Singapore to India for the G20 Summit, the FOC provided an opportunity to follow up on the Leaders’ discussions and review the robust bilateral relationship, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
During the FOC, the two sides discussed areas of ongoing collaboration such as trade & investment, defence & security, fintech, digitalisation, green energy, skill development and people-to-people ties.
They also exchanged views on the progress achieved on specific growth engines identified under the inaugural meeting of the India-Singapore Ministerial Round-table (ISMR) in September 2022 and looked forward to its next edition, the MEA said.
According to the MEA, both sides also discussed regional, global and multilateral issues of common interest.
Additionally, the Indian side appreciated Singapore for joining the International Solar Alliance earlier in June this year and thanked Singapore for joining the ‘Global Biofuels Alliance’ which was launched at the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
The FOC was co-chaired by Secretary (East), MEA Saurabh Kumar and Permanent Secretary at Singapore’s Ministry of Law Luke Goh, who is concurrently Second Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Both sides agreed to hold the next round of FOC in Singapore on a mutually convenient date. While in New Delhi, Goh also met the Indian Law Secretary.
STRONG INDIA-SINGAPORE BILATERAL RELATIONS
India and Singapore enjoy a very warm bilateral relationship which has manifested itself in recent developments across diverse sectors.
Less than a month ago, India had exempted Singapore from the rice export ban which was imposed recently, citing a “very close strategic partnership” and “food security requirements”.
Providing this information on August 28, 2023, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “India and Singapore enjoy a very close strategic partnership, characterized by shared interests, close economic ties and strong people to people connect”.
In February this year, India and Singapore had linked their respective online payments systems for seamless cross-border transactions between the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong participated in the virtual launch of real time payment linkage between the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and PayNow of Singapore on February 21, 2023.
With this, Singapore became the first country with which cross border Person to Person (P2P) payment facility was launched by India.
Im addition to strong trade and economic ties, India and Singapore also have a close defence and security relationship at the bilateral level as well as through the ASEAN. (India News Network)
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