Modi’s Singapore visit strengthens ties, boosts India’s Indo-Pacific strategy: analysts

Modi’s visit to Singapore highlights India’s focus on strengthening ties with key regional partner

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Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (right) shaking hands with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information/AFP

Published: 5:00pm, 6 Sep 2024Updated: 5:10pm, 6 Sep 2024

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Singapore early in his third term shows the importance New Delhi attaches to strengthening ties with key regional partners as part of its broader Indo-Pacific strategy, analysts say.

“The visit was significant in Prime Minister Modi building a personal bond with newly elected Prime Minister [Lawrence] Wong and re-energising his bonhomie with other Singapore leaders. The focus of his interactions was clearly on further strengthening their relations and making these future oriented,” said Swaran Singh, an international-relations professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

During Modi’s two-day trip to Singapore – his fifth visit to the city state, and first since 2018 – the Indian prime minster and Singaporean leaders signed four Memorandums of Understanding for cooperation in semiconductors, digital technologies, skill development, and healthcare.

They also agreed to elevate the bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, aiming to boost India’s Act East Policy, which refers to its larger Indo-Pacific strategy, according to a statement from India’s foreign ministry.

“India and Singapore now have deep relationships in various domains, including defence, maritime security, trade, and economics,” said Sinderpal Singh, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, emphasising the progress in the bilateral ties, since they were first established in 1965.

The multicultural city state has a sizeable Indian community, which makes up about 9 per cent of the population. Among the 1.6 million foreigners living in Singapore, about 21 per cent are Indians.

Singapore is India’s largest trading partner among Asean countries and sixth globally, with a 3.2 per cent share of India’s overall trade.