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ADVANCED manufacturing and semiconductors, as well as aviation and maritime connectivity, are new areas that Singapore and India have added to a high-level platform for discussing ways to enhance bilateral cooperation.

These two additions to the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable are areas of significant opportunity for both countries, as well as their companies, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told reporters at Shangri-La Singapore after the roundtable concluded on Aug 26.

Calling the ministers-only meeting “productive”, Balakrishnan said it also sets the stage for an official visit to Singapore by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which will “occur shortly”.

This is the second time that ministers from Singapore and India have met through the roundtable, after then Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong launched the inaugural edition in September 2022 during a five-day visit to India.

Balakrishnan said on Aug 26 that both countries want to collaborate on advanced manufacturing and semiconductors – a sector that India wants to expand significantly, and one where Singapore punches well above its weight.

India is also likely to see tremendous growth in aviation in the coming years, having ordered more than 1,000 planes in the past year alone.

In February, Air India ordered 470 planes from Boeing and Airbus, breaking a record for the largest-ever plane deal that had held for over a decade. The record was broken again in June when IndiGo, India’s largest carrier, placed an order for 500 Airbus jets.

This represents great opportunities for services such as maintenance and air operations in the coming years – another niche area where Singapore and its companies are globally competitive, said Balakrishnan.

“A country with more than 1.4 billion people is now embarking on a major upgrade of its aviation sector,” he said. “This is a once in a two, three decade opportunity, and it’s good that we are, in a sense, in the front seat and have a chance (to collaborate).”

Besides Balakrishnan, Singapore was represented at the meeting by Deputy Prime Minister and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong, Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam, Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng and Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat.

India was represented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Electronics and Information Technology, Railways, and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

At the meeting, the ministers reaffirmed the close and longstanding relationship between Singapore and India, underpinned by strong economic and people-to-people ties, said the Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade and Industry in a joint release.

PM Wong said on Aug 26 that he was glad that new ideas for cooperation are being pursued, while progress has been made on several fronts since the 2022 meeting.

At that meeting, both sides had agreed to boost cooperation in several areas: digitalisation, the green economy, skills development, healthcare and food cooperation.

Some of these have already borne fruit, such as the link-up between Singapore’s PayNow and India’s Unified Payments Interface in February 2023, which lets financial institutions from both sides transfer funds in real time. Both sides have also facilitated investments into renewable energy, such as green ammonia.

“These initiatives will pave the way for closer strategic cooperation and partnership between India and Singapore,” said PM Wong on Facebook.

Balakrishnan said projects like the digital payments linkage have much more potential, such as to become part of a regional instant payments system. Such a network will facilitate trade and economic development across the region, he added.

That is why cyber security was discussed at the latest roundtable, alongside other ideas on standardising rules and increasing inter-operability so that other countries that want to be part of this network in future can do so more easily, he added.

At a dinner following the roundtable, DPM Gan said Singapore and India are natural partners, with complementary strengths that have allowed both sides to forge strong economic and investment ties.

Indian companies also form one of the largest foreign corporate contingents in Singapore, noted DPM Gan, with firms like Bharti Group headquartered here. Meanwhile, the Republic’s firms have had longstanding operations in India – such as CapitaLand, which marks the 30th anniversary of its Indian operations in 2024.

“I am confident that the discussions we had today, and those in the future, will pave the way to foster greater collaboration between Singapore and India,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the Indian delegation called on PM Wong. The Indian ministers were also hosted to lunch by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

The second India-Singapore Business Roundtable, which was held in parallel with the ministers’ dialogue, was attended by 12 business leaders from Singapore and India, namely Blackstone Singapore, GIC, Temasek, Singapore Airlines, DBS Bank, Sembcorp and CapitaLand from Singapore; and Bharti Enterprises, Mahindra Group, TVS Motor, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, and Protean eGov Technologies from India. THE STRAITS TIMES