Modi's Singapore visit to bolster 'Act East' policy of India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet his Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, this week, marking his first visit to Singapore since securing a third term in June. During his two-day visit, PM Modi will meet Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister and former PM Lee Hsien Loong, and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. "Singapore has consistently been a friend of India...and has advocated for partnering with India," Anit Mukherjee, a senior lecturer at King's College London told CNBC.
India's sixth largest trading partner
Singapore is currently India's sixth-largest trading partner, accounting for 3.2% of India's total trade. In the fiscal year 2024, imports from Singapore reached $21.2 billion while exports amounted to $14.4 billion. Additionally, Singapore is the largest source of foreign direct investments into India with cumulative FDI inflows nearing $160 billion from April 2000 to March 2024.
Modi's visit to strengthen India-Singapore economic collaboration
"The India-Singapore relationship has always been stable and strong. It is now expected to move to the next phase of collaboration which will be both an economic and strategic collaboration based on areas of long-term interest," said Amitendu Palit, a senior research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies. Prior to PM Modi's visit, four Indian ministers attended a ministerial roundtable in Singapore last month, discussing ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in several areas.
Semiconductor manufacturing, a key focus for India-Singapore collaboration
Speaking after the ministerial roundtable, Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan highlighted semiconductor manufacturing as an important area of focus. "They know that although Singapore is very small, we have a disproportionate share of global semiconductor manufacturing capability, and they are carefully studying our system in terms of its ecosystem," he said. Any outcomes from this meeting are likely to be presented during PM Modi's visit.
PM Modi's visit to Brunei
Earlier this week, PM Modi visited Brunei, where he met Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. He is the first Indian prime minister to make a bilateral visit to the oil-rich country. During his visit, he inaugurated the new Chancery premises of the High Commission of India in Brunei and paid a visit to the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan.
