Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the new chancery complex of the Indian High Commission in Singapore, saying the facility will reflect a “new era” in the India-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan was present at the event.
Jaishankar is in Singapore for the fourth India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable, which is scheduled to be held on Thursday. The roundtable is a key platform for discussions on expanding bilateral economic and strategic cooperation between the two countries.
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In a social media post, Jaishankar said, “Joined FM @VivianBala of Singapore in laying the foundation stone of the new Chancery complex of @HCI_Singapore today.” He added, “Confident that this complex will reflect the new era of India-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and further strengthen services for the Indian diaspora.” According to the Singapore Census of Population 2020, people of Indian origin make up nine per cent of the country’s 4.04 million resident population. Singapore also hosts 1.64 million foreigners, including Indian citizens. The Indian mission said Indians in Singapore include students and people working in financial services, IT, construction and marine sectors. Tamil is one of Singapore’s four official languages, along with English, Mandarin Chinese and Malay.
Earlier in the day, Jaishankar and Balakrishnan held what he described as a “detailed discussion” on further deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and on the current geopolitical situation. In another post, Jaishankar said, “Look forward to further interacting with him during the 4th India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable tomorrow.” Besides Jaishankar, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada will take part in the roundtable. The inaugural ISMR meeting was held in New Delhi in September 2022, followed by the second meeting in Singapore in August 2024. The third meeting was held in New Delhi in August last year.
India and Singapore elevated ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2015, covering areas such as trade and investment, digitalisation, defence and security, education, skills and emerging technologies. Singapore is India’s largest trading partner in ASEAN and the leading source of FDI, besides being among the largest sources of external commercial borrowings and foreign portfolio investment. Singapore was India’s sixth-largest trading partner in 2024-25, with India importing USD 21.2 billion worth of goods and exporting USD 14.4 billion. Over the past 10 years, Singapore’s annual investments in India ranged between USD 10 billion and USD 15 billion, underlining the scale of the partnership that the two sides are set to discuss further at the ministerial roundtable.
With PTI Inputs
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
