India and Singapore signed key Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) in the fields of digital technologies, semiconductors, health cooperation, and skill development, which will further strengthen their cooperation. The agreements were signed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is visiting Singapore, and his counterpart Lawrence Wong held bilateral meetings.
PM Modi In Singapore
Why In News
- India and Singapore signed key Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) in the fields of digital technologies, semiconductors, health cooperation, and skill development, which will further strengthen their cooperation. The agreements were signed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is visiting Singapore, and his counterpart Lawrence Wong held bilateral meetings.
Key MoUs Signed By India And Singapore
- First MoU was signed between India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information to cooperate in digital technologies.
- This will help facilitate close cooperation between the two countries in the areas of digital technologies, such as DPI, cyber-security, and 5G, and emerging technologies, such as super-computing, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. It will also enable cooperation for upskilling and reskilling workers in the digital domain.
- MoU on the India-Singapore semiconductor ecosystem partnership was signed by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.
- Under this agreement, India and Singapore will cooperate in developing a semiconductor cluster and cultivating talent in semiconductor design and manufacturing. It will also facilitate Singapore’s investments in India.
- Singapore is an integral part of the worldwide semiconductor supply chain, accounting for 10 per cent of all chips produced globally and about 20 per cent of the global production of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
- Another MoU was signed by India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Singapore’s Ministry of Health on cooperation in the field of health and medicine.
- This agreement will facilitate joint efforts on research and innovation in areas of mutual interest and also promote closer cooperation in human resource development in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.
- The agreement will also complement New Delhi’s efforts to promote Indian healthcare professionals in Singapore.
- The final agreement on educational cooperation and skills development was signed by India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Singapore’s Ministry of Education. This agreement aims to promote closer cooperation in the areas of technical and vocational education and training and will complement the ongoing active collaboration in skill development.
PM Modi’s Visit
- Modi’s visit to the South East Asian country—a first by an Indian Prime Minister—also saw the forty-year relationship raised to an enhanced partnership, underlining New Delhi’s emphasis on its Act East Policy.
- The year 2024 is the tenth year since the Act East Policy was first outlined by Modi in 2014.
- Within the first 100 days of the new government, India has received visits from the prime ministers of Vietnam and Malaysia, while India’s President Droupadi Murmu made visits to Fiji, New Zealand and Timor-Leste.
- Modi added at the banquet that India continues to give priority to the centrality of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the region and supports the “freedom of navigation” and “overflight” under laws such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
- “We agree that a Code of Conduct should be finalised in this region. We support the policy of development, and not expansionism,” Modi said, without naming China.
