New Delhi: Four agreements on semiconductors, health, skilling and digital security were signed between India and Singapore Thursday during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the Southeast Asian country.
The decades-long cooperation was also elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership—signalling Singapore’s deepening role as India’s critical partner in the “Act East” policy.
Modi announced that India’s first Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre would soon open in Singapore, during remarks in the meeting with Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong.
“Singapore will progress further,” Modi said under its fourth-generation leaders—popularly called the “4G” rung—who are the youngest in the Cabinet.
Wong’s predecessor Lee Hsien Loong and his team were called the third-generation leaders, or “3G”, as he was the third prime minister of the city-state. Wong assumed the premiership in May 2024.
Modi also said Singapore was not just a partner country but “an inspiration” for every developing country. “We, too, want to create many Singapores in India… Initiatives have been identified for cooperation in areas such as skilling, digitalisation, mobility, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and AI, healthcare, sustainability, and cyber security,” he said at the meeting.
All areas of cooperation identified by the two countries were a part of the four memorandums of agreement signed during the visit. Modi also visited the semiconductor facilities of AEM Holdings, along with Wong.
During the visit, the PM will call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, former PM and now Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.
The 4 new pacts
The newly-signed “India-Singapore Semiconductor Ecosystem Partnership” will help facilitate the entry of Singaporean companies and supply chains to India.
New Delhi is keen to become a global node in the supply of semiconductors, and through the new agreement, aims to set up the framework for leveraging complementary strengths to achieve its goals.
Government-led policy discussions on the development of the semiconductor ecosystem, capacity building and creating resilience of supply chains fall under the remit of the new pact. The dialogue mechanisms created by the agreement is key to facilitating Singaporean investment into India’s developing semiconductor sector.
Singapore is considered a safe choice in the prevailing geopolitical scenario, as tensions between the US and China continue to rise, especially when it comes to building global resilience in supply chains of semiconductors.
Also read: Did Modi and Biden discuss Bangladesh? India & US readouts paint different pictures
The Southeast Asian country contributes to around 10 percent of the global semiconductor output, 5 percent of global wafer fabrication capacity, and around 20 percent of the production of semiconductor equipment, as reported by ThePrint.
The city-state is home to major chip-manufacturing companies and nine of the top 15 semiconductor firms in the world have a presence in Singapore. However, the country’s semiconductor industry is limited to the mature-node chips—28 nm or more in size—used in everyday appliances, cars and manufacturing equipment.
Along with semiconductors, the India-Singapore partnership on cyber-security also got a leg-up with the new agreement. Singapore’s Cyber Emergency Response Team (SingCERT) and CERT-India will continue to improve cooperation, especially as questions surrounding digital security.
The Singapore Cyber Security Agency first signed an agreement with India in 2015, during Modi’s state visit to the country. The long-standing partnership spans bilateral, regional and international cooperation at various levels, including the United Nations Open Ended Working Group on Security in the use of information and communication technology (ICT).
At the regional level, India and Singapore have collaborated through cyber-initiatives spearheaded by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Boost to digital economy
The new digital development pact also aims to strengthen cooperation between India and Singapore’s digital economies. Singapore was the first country to operationalise peer-to-peer digital payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform in February 2023.
The agreement envisages a joint working group that will regularly meet to oversee the implementation of digital initiatives. The other areas of the agreement include data flows, digital public infrastructure and business-to-business linkages.
In the skill development sector, the two countries have inked a new pact, which would facilitate collaboration between the technical and vocational education sectors. It also aims to enhance partnership between higher education institutions of both countries.
On the health front, the two countries have agreed to enhance teamwork in areas like surveillance of diseases, child and maternal health and pandemic preparedness.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: During Modi’s Singapore visit, India to lay emphasis on cooperation in semiconductor sector