India and Singapore reviewed bilateral cooperation in a variety of disciplines on Monday, adding advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, aviation, and marine connectivity as new areas of partnership through a ministerial mechanism.

These problems were discussed at the second India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR), which Singapore hosted, and the framework was enlarged to include additional ministers from both sides. According to those acquainted with the situation, this demonstrates the mechanism's relevance and the expansion of bilateral collaboration.

According to the persons, the two sides have finalized almost half a dozen agreements in sectors like as food trade, digital cooperation, skill development, healthcare, and the green economy, which are anticipated to be announced when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Singapore next month.

In a post on X, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar hailed the meetings as fruitful, saying the two sides discussed cooperation in sustainability, healthcare, and connectivity. "ISMR enables the emergence of a more contemporary partnership," he  said.

Singapore's foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, told reporters following the meeting that the two countries had added advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, aviation, and marine connections as additional sectors to the mechanism. These are big opportunities for both countries and their enterprises, he stated.
Balakrishnan also praised the discussion as positive, saying it laid the groundwork for Modi's visit, which is likely to take place "shortly." He highlighted prospects in India's aviation sector, with Indian carriers putting orders for around 1,000 new aircraft.

Noting that India is starting on a "major upgrade" of its aviation industry, he stated, "This is a once in a two- [or] three-decade opportunity, and it's good that we are...in the front seat and have a chance."

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal stated that the two sides discussed "further elevating and broadening our strategic partnership across the key pillars of ISMR" and underlined their shared goal of increasing economic connections.

The first roundtable conference in September 2022 was attended by India's commerce, finance, and foreign ministries, as well as Singapore's finance, foreign, transportation, and trade ministers. India's electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw joined the second meeting, while Singapore's home minister K Shanmugam, digital development minister Josephine Teo, and manpower minister Tan See Leng attended.

At the roundtable's inaugural meeting, areas of collaboration included digitalization, food trade, energy and green economy, skill development, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. Since then, India and Singapore have integrated their digital payment systems, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow, to enable real-time payments between banks or e-wallets, and a pilot shipment including the digital exchange of bills of lading via the TradeTrust framework has been carried out.

Balakrishnan believes there is greater potential in digital payments, including the prospect of a regional real-time payment system. The two sides addressed cyber-security, rule standardization, and increased interoperability, which might lead to the system's spread to other nations, he stated.

Indian ministers also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a post on X that the chat with Wong demonstrated that India-Singapore relations are on solid ground. "Together, we shall work to strengthen the relationship for the benefit of our people," she told.

Wong, who led the Singapore team to the first ministerial roundtable in his previous post as deputy premier, told X that the ISMR is a vital venue for strengthening bilateral relations. "Glad that progress has been made on several fronts since our last meeting [and] new ideas for cooperation are being pursued, including in advanced manufacturing and connectivity," he told the audience.

The two sides also talked about preparations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties, as well as regional and global cooperation, such as ASEAN and the G20.

According to a commerce ministry official, on the eve of the ministerial roundtable, Goyal met with global investment firms with assets worth more than $500 billion at the India-Singapore Business Roundtable to discuss investment potential in India. The business leaders represented Temasek Holdings, Blackstone Singapore, DBS Bank, Singapore Airlines, OMERS, and Keppel Infrastructure.

Singapore was India's greatest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2023-24, accounting for an expected $11.77 billion in inflows. Singapore's cumulative inflows from April 2000 to March 2024 totaled around $159.94 billion.

In terms of bilateral trade, Singapore was India's sixth largest global trading partner in 2023-24, with total trade of $35.61 billion, accounting for almost 29% of overall trade with ASEAN.