India, Singapore sign 4 MoUs, elevate ties to comprehensive strategic partnership

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – India and Singapore on Thursday decided to elevate their bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in different fields, said an official statement released in New Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a visit to Singapore, held talks with his Singapore counterpart Lawrence Wong.

“Both leaders reviewed the progress of India-Singapore bilateral relations. Given the breadth and depth of bilateral ties and immense potential, they decided to elevate… this would also give a major boost to India’s Act East Policy,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

The two leaders reviewed existing cooperation in the fields of defense and security, maritime domain awareness, education, and artificial intelligence (AI), the ministry said.

Both sides also signed four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in the fields of semiconductors, digital technologies, health cooperation, and skill development.

Modi said the talks focused on boosting cooperation in areas like skilling, technology, health care and AI. “We both agreed on the need to boost trade relations,” he wrote on X.

“These are the outcomes of the deliberations during the two rounds of India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtables held so far,” the ministry said, adding that Modi invited Wong to visit India, which he accepted.