India, Singapore ink strategic partnership

Nine deals signed, Modi pays homage at I memorial

SINGAPORE, Nov 24: India and Singapore signed a joint declaration on strategic partnership and nine bilateral accords on Tuesday, the second day of Prime Minister rendra Modi’s visit to this city state.

Modi and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong signed the joint declaration on strategic partnership to elevate bilateral relations to a “strategic partnership to deepen and broaden engagement in existing areas of cooperation and catalyse new ones ranging from political, defence and security cooperation to economic, cultural and people to people contact”, an official statement said.

“The strategic partnership is also a framework to contribute to greater regiol stability and growth,” it added.

Besides this, two agreements on defence cooperation and loan of artifacts from India to Singapore, two executive programme/operatiolisation documents on arts and culture, and white-shipping, and five memorandums of agreement (MoUs) on cyber security, civil aviation, knowledge exchange in the field of planning, urban planning, and combating drug trafficking were also signed.

The agreement on defence cooperation enhances cooperation in the field by providing for defence ministers’ dialogue, joint exercises between armed forces, and cooperation between defence industries to identify areas of co-production and co-development, the statement said.

The second agreement “extends the loan of Indian artifacts to the Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore”.

The operatiolisation document on arts and culture is on an “executive programme on cooperation in the fields of the arts, heritage, archives and library” between the Indian and Singaporean governments for the years 2015-2018.

The second operatiolisation document has been signed following the technical agreement on sharing white-shipping or commercial shipping information about movement of cargo ships between the Indian and Singapore vies signed on July 21, 2015.

“Following the signing of technical agreement between the two vies on sharing white-shipping information in July 2015, both vies have established a two-way linkage. This has enhanced bilateral cooperation in the area of maritime security,” the statement said.

The MoU on cyber security was signed between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team (SingCERT).

“The MoU promotes closer cooperation and exchange of information pertaining to cyber security between the computer emergency response teams of the two countries by establishment of a broader framework for future dialogue; exchange of information on cyber-attacks; research collaboration in smart technologies; exchange of information on prevalent cyber security policies and best practices as well as professiol exchanges,” the statement said.

The MoU on civil aviation “facilitates mutual cooperation in a number of mutually agreed areas of civil aviation services and airport magement beginning with Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports”.

The third MoU promotes knowledge and information exchange in areas such as urban planning, waste water magement, solid waste magement and public-private partnerships between India’s NITI Aayog and the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE).

The MoU on combating drug “facilitates and enhances cooperation by exchange of information on trends in the illicit manufacture and those arrested on drug trafficking charges and establishes direct contact points” between the rcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India and the Central rcotics Bureau (CNB) of Singapore.

“Capacity building, skill upgrading and knowledge development are also identified as areas of cooperation,” the statement said.

The fifth MoU was signed between the Town and Country Planning Organisation of India and the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise in Capacity Building in the field of urban planning and governce.

It provides for participation of government officials from India in capacity-building programmes in areas such as urban planning and magement.

The documents were signed following bilateral talks between Modi and Lee here.

After the signing of the documents, Exterl Affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted that the two prime ministers noted the importance of culture between the two countries and encouraged more exhibitions, exchanges and interactions.

Modi and Lee noted their shared interest in furthering cooperation in the areas of science and technology, particularly in space, biomedicine and ayurveda, the spokesperson added.

The two prime ministers also released two postal stamps showing Rashtrapati Bhavan and Ista, the Singaporean presidential palace, to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Earlier on Tuesday, Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Ista following which he met Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

Modi arrived in Singapore from Malaysia on Monday on a bilateral visit in the second and last leg of his four-day visit to southeast Asia. On Tuesday, he paid his respects at the I memorial here.  (IANS)