During his ongoing visit to Singapore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is actively pursuing deeper bilateral cooperation with the nation, particularly in critical sectors such as semiconductors and healthcare, alongside emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. This visit marks part of Modi’s tour of Southeast Asia, following his previous visit to Brunei.
In Singapore, Modi engaged in talks with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He also held a meeting with leading business figures. A significant development emerged during the visit as Modi announced that he and Wong had agreed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’.
Addressing public remarks before the delegation-level talks with Wong, PM Modi emphasized the nature of the bilateral ties. He highlighted the remarkable progress in trade and investment over the past decade, emphasizing the doubling of trade and a threefold increase in mutual investment, exceeding $150 billion. Modi also underscored the groundbreaking initiative of launching the UPI Person-to-Person payment facility with Singapore, the first country to benefit from this service. He further noted the successful launch of 17 Singaporean satellites from Indian soil, signifying the strong cooperation in the space sector. Modi also lauded the collaborative efforts in areas like skilling and defense, citing the connectivity enhancement brought about by the agreement between Singapore Airlines and Air India.
The visit serves as a pivotal platform for exploring areas of cooperation in the semiconductor industry, particularly as the Modi government is committed to developing a robust semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem within India. Modi, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), stated, “The discussions with my friend PM Lawrence Wong continued today. Our talks focused on boosting cooperation in areas like skilling, technology, healthcare, AI and more. We both agreed on the need to boost trade relations.”
In a separate post, Modi mentioned visiting the AEM Holdings Ltd. facility in Singapore alongside Wong. AEM Holdings is a leading provider of chipmaking solutions. Modi stated, “Semiconductors and technology are important facets of India-Singapore cooperation. This is also a sector where India is increasing its presence. Today, PM Wong and I visited AEM Holdings Ltd. We look forward to working together in this sector and giving our youth more opportunities.” During his visit to the facility, Modi also engaged with Indian engineers working as interns.
Modi’s visit also included a meeting with top business leaders, including CEOs of prominent companies such as Blackstone Singapore, Temasek Holdings, Sembcorp Industries Limited, CapitaLand Investment, ST Telemedia Global Data Centers, and Singapore Airways. These business leaders expressed their commitment to investing in India. Modi, following the meeting, shared, “We talked about ways to deepen economic linkages. I highlighted the reforms underway in India, which will encourage investment and innovation.”
AEM Holdings Chairman Loke Wai San, in a statement to DD News, underscored the significance of India’s focus on promoting chipmaking, stating, “As part of the new globalisation, you see a lot of high-end mobile electronics companies move to India…That shift is very important as these companies are consumers of semiconductors. The more electronics assembly production you have, the more end-market for semiconductors India will have. So, you have got to think about that ecosystem as logistics also play a role.”
