SINGAPORE, Aug 21 — Singapore and India engaged in talks to enhance cooperation in several key sectors during the 4th India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) yesterday.
Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said the annual discussion revolves around six pillars of collaboration, focusing on advanced manufacturing, connectivity, digitalisation, healthcare, skills upgrading, and sustainability.
On advanced manufacturing, he said Singapore’s small and medium enterprises, particularly those supporting the semiconductor industry, have significant opportunities to expand into India.
“One area that we are particularly interested in is skills upgrading and training of the Indian workforce so that they are able to support the new semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries.
“This is something we have been discussing, and we hope to establish training centres for semiconductor, particularly in areas where these semiconductor companies are investing,” he told Singapore media after the meeting yesterday.
Gan said both countries also exchanged letters of intent on cooperation in the field of telecoms and broadcasting under the digitalisation pillar.
The ministers also discussed working together to expedite the implementation of Project Nexus, an initiative which allows digital payment to be multilateral, eliminating the need for bilateral agreements between participating countries.
The project is expected to go online by 2027. India is a founding member of Nexus along with five Asean countries including Singapore.
The ISMR is an important ministerial-level platform between Singapore and India to drive cooperation in new and emerging areas. The Singapore delegation, led by Gan, also included Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo, and Transport and Second Finance Minister Jeffrey Siow.
The Indian delegation comprised Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, and Minister of State for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada. — Bernama
