Singapore: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to arrive here on Wednesday for his fifth official visit to the Southeast Asian country at the invitation of his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong after wrapping his visit to Brunei.
During the two-day visit, Modi will receive an official welcome at the Parliament House on Thursday and call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
”I look forward to my discussions to deepen our Strategic Partnership with Singapore, particularly in new and emerging areas of advanced manufacturing, digitalization, and sustainable development,” Modi said in his departure statement ahead of his visit.
“The leaders will review the progress of India–Singapore Strategic Partnership and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement said ahead of his departure in New Delhi.
Modi, who last visited Singapore in 2018, will be accompanied by Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and other government officials.
Apart from meeting Wong, Modi would call on Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. Wong and Lee will host Modi to separate meals.
Modi will also meet with Singaporean business leaders and interact with those in the country’s semiconductor ecosystem.
The prime minister will also meet interns from both countries, the Singapore students who did internships in India through the India Ready Talent Programme, as well as interns from Odisha who are working in Singapore companies.
Modi’s visit to Singapore comes after the second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable held at Shangri-La Singapore on August 26, according to Channel News Asia.
Ahead of Modi’s arrival, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said the time is ripe for the two countries to take their bilateral relationship to the next level.
“Given the transformation underway in India and the changes in the world, they need to become more contemporary. In many ways, that is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen to visit Singapore so early in his third term,” The Straits Times quoted Jaishankar as saying in an interview.
He said that India and Singapore’s bilateral ties “have been extremely strong in the last two decades”.
Modi on Wednesday met with Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei for a bilateral meeting on wide-ranging topics and discussed about further expanding trade ties, commercial linkages and people-to-people exchanges.
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