New ministerial roundtable will enable Singapore, India to boost ties across many fronts: DPM Wong
The new high-level roundtable between Singapore and India will enable both countries to strengthen their relationship across many fronts and find mutual benefits by working together, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Tuesday.
Both sides have agreed on several new areas of cooperation, including food and energy security, green technology particularly green hydrogen, digital connectivity and skills development, he noted.
“We look forward to the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable as a new regular platform for both sides to meet on an ongoing basis to coordinate and oversee these new areas of cooperation,” said Mr Wong, who is also Finance Minister.
“These areas of cooperation between India and Singapore will not only serve our two countries, but can serve as catalysts and pathfinders for broader cooperation in plurilateral or multilateral platforms,” he added.
“In that way, India and Singapore can play a role together to secure a more stable and prosperous Asia-Pacific.”
He had launched the inaugural roundtable last Saturday with Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong and Transport Minister S.Iswaran, who is also Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations.
India was represented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S.Jaishankar, and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.
Wong said both sides have been discussing how to take ties to a new level for some time, and eventually decided on the roundtable as a platform to systematically enhance cooperation.
It will likely take place every year, he said. It should also be a format that can evolve as needs change. For example, additional ministers could join based on their domain areas.
They also invited several business leaders from both sides to join in a parallel discussion. “It was striking that they too found many opportunities for cooperation, similar to the areas that were discussed by the ministers,” said Wong.
“Many of them were very excited about the possibilities for doing more with India. They have seen the efforts of reforms and the digitalisation measures bearing fruit, they have seen the start-up ecosystem becoming more vibrant,” he added.
“The bottom line is, both sides are fully committed to strengthening our bilateral relationship and taking it to a new level,” he said.
Industry leaders present at the business roundtable included Temasek chief executive officer Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, DBS Bank CEO Piyush Gupta and GIC CEO Lim Chow Kiat.
“If you look at what India has achieved with its digitalisation efforts and explosive growth of start-ups and fintech companies, there is considerable potential there,” he said.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore and India’s International Financial Services Centres Authority on Sunday signed an agreement allowing Indian and Singporean fintech firms to collaborate and market-test innovative products.
He also noted that if its current trajectory continues, India will overtake Japan as Asia’s second-largest economy and potentially the world’s third largest, after the United States and China.
Singapore, he added, has always believed in India as a strategically important partner, and is the country coordinator for ASEAN-India relations from 2021 to 2024.
“We hope to see India be engaged in ASEAN in a more constructive and systematic manner, and we welcome and look forward to India becoming an important player in this evolving regional architecture,” he added.