India-Singapore to hold semiconductor policy dialogue
India and Singapore are working on deepening bilateral trade and access to markets, including through building on the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), and taking into consideration both countries’ trade priorities through the annual Meeting of Joint Working Group on Trade and Investments.
Both sides will continue to engage in dialogue and make progress on initiation of the Third Review of CECA and achieve substantial Review of the ASEAN India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) in 2025, said a joint statement following Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s official visit to India 2-4 Sept.
The leaders pledged to support the growth of India’s semiconductor industry and ecosystem including through cooperation under the India-Singapore Semiconductor Policy Dialogue; facilitating partnerships with Singapore companies; advancing resilient semiconductor supply chains; exploring mutually beneficial research and development collaborations; promoting workforce development; and encouraging business-to-business cooperation through information sharing, exchange of best practices, direct investments, and potential partnerships between Indian and Singapore firms.
The statement listed initiatives reaffirmed on 4 Sept in New Delhi:
Jointly develop sustainable industrial parks and next-generation industrial parks with advanced manufacturing capabilities, including through facilitating ventures and partnerships, government-to-government cooperation in knowledge sharing, capacity training, green standards implementation, master planning, and promotion;
Jointly enhance India-Singapore capital market connectivity and build on the close collaboration on joint initiatives such as the NSE-IFSC-SGX GIFT Connect;
Strengthen partnerships and collaboration between the business communities in India and Singapore, especially in areas that complement the bilateral cooperation agenda, and deepen business-to-business engagement such as through the India-Singapore Business Roundtable (ISBR);
Promote joint collaboration in the space sector, including between the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and the Office for Space Technology & Industry, Singapore and both countries’ space industries; in space policy and law; and in research and development activities in areas of mutual interest such as Earth observation and satellite communication technologies and applications;
Enhance legal and dispute resolution cooperation, where possible, with a view to addressing the businesses’ needs of both sides, through the involvement of the relevant Ministries of India and Singapore;
Skills Development: Partnering in Skills Development and Capacity Building
Jointly develop a National Centre of Excellence in Chennai on Advanced Manufacturing, which will focus on boosting industry connection and collaborating on standards in curriculum, train-the-trainers, developing a skills certification framework, and periodic review and assessment to maintain quality; and collaborating with the private sector to develop skill centres in sectors of mutual interest, including Advanced Manufacturing, Aviation and Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO);
Promote cooperation in capability development in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and skills development; collaboration in the field of technical education between Higher Education institutes; exchange of information and best practices with regard to reskilling and upskilling the workforce; student and staff exchanges; facilitation of student internships and faculty industrial attachments, and teacher training. Both sides will establish a Joint Working Group to facilitate and review progress across the education and skills development agenda;
Build on strong existing collaboration between the Singapore skilling ecosystem and India, to support state level skilling cooperation with Singapore, such as the Singapore-Assam Nursing Talent Skills Cooperation;
Digitalisation: Deepening Cooperation in Digital and Financial Technologies
Strengthen Digital Finance and Fintech cooperation between India and Singapore, as well as cyber security and capital market linkages, including through the Fintech Joint Working Group;
Share experiences and exchange technical expertise in digital solutions, and explore their implementation through pilot projects;
Enhance collaboration between start-up and Small and Medium Enterprise ecosystems of both sides with the aim of facilitating partnerships in the digital domain;
Strengthen cooperation between stakeholders on both sides on cyber policies, CERT-CERT information exchange, cyber security capacity building and cybersecurity related issues;
Regarding GIFT City-Singapore cooperation, officials from relevant agencies and regulatory authorities in India and Singapore to convene a Joint Working Group to kickstart discussions on the framework as well as to identify and trial potential use cases such as data types where the framework could apply to;
Explore collaboration opportunities in critical and emerging technologies, to promote innovation, inclusive and sustainable economic growth; under the existing Joint Working Group on Digital Technologies;
Explore cooperation on Artificial Intelligence through the sharing of best practices for developing AI-ready data sets and building data-driven AI use cases in sectors such as agriculture, health care, and education;
Expand and maximise the potential of paperless and secure cross-border merchant and personal payments using the UPI-PayNow Linkage as a foundation;
Strengthen the adoption of the TradeTrust framework between India and Singapore for interoperable e-Bills of Lading and facilitating more reliable and secure trade documents;
Sustainability: Exploring Collaboration Opportunities in Sustainable Development and Green Trade
Step up cooperation in ongoing and new areas including green hydrogen and ammonia production and trade;
Explore cooperation in the area of urban water management;
Explore avenues of cooperation in the civil nuclear domain;
Work towards a mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation framework under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement to address the challenge of climate change;
Collaborate on green and sustainable initiatives in relevant multilateral frameworks such as the International Solar Alliance and Global Biofuels Alliance, of which Singapore is a member;
Deepen cooperation on food security such as through promoting the exports of food products between India and Singapore and to third countries, including by exploring country-level accreditation for select exports;
Connectivity: Expanding Maritime and Aviation Connectivity
Support the establishment of an India-Singapore Green and Digital Shipping Corridor (GDSC) between the Port of Singapore and ports in India to deepen maritime connectivity and work towards the establishment of a green maritime fuel corridor;
Deepen ecosystem collaboration in India’s growing aviation and aerospace MRO sectors through the partnerships between Indian and Singapore companies in these sectors, including the sharing of Singapore’s expertise and the provision of upskilling opportunities;
Both Prime Ministers recognized the growth in travel demand between the two countries, and encouraged the civil aviation authorities of both countries to discuss expanding the bilateral Air Services Agreement to enhance air connectivity;
Explore partnerships in capacity building and airport development, including the exchange of experience and expertise in airport consultancy and management services for Indian airports;
Both sides committed to enhancing cooperation on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) towards promoting cleaner and sustainable energy solutions in the aviation sector;
Healthcare and Medicine: Strengthening Healthcare and Medicine Cooperation
Deepen collaboration in health and medicine fields under the MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Health and Medicine, including human resource development, digital health intervention and disease surveillance, maternal and child health and nutrition, health policy, with a focus on access to medical products and regulatory facilitation of collaborative research, combatting communicable and non-communicable disease, health safety and security, and research and innovation;
Regularly convene the Joint Working Group on Health Cooperation;
Deepen cooperation in the area of nursing skills development through the exchange of information and knowledge in nursing skills training, and enhancing the employability in Singapore, which is currently taking place under the MoU between Singapore and Assam on Nursing Talent Skills Cooperation;
Deepen ongoing collaboration in Collaborative Industrial Research & Development and support new joint research projects in the area of Digital Health/Medical Technologies;
People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges: Supporting People-to-People and Cultural Linkages
Further strengthen the long-standing social, cultural and people-to-people linkages between India and Singapore including through exploring cooperation across areas of mutual interest in maritime heritage;
Promote and expand student exchanges, including students of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), through various initiatives including immersion programmes under the Singapore-India Partnership Foundation (SIPF) and internships, including attachments of Singaporean interns to India-based companies under the Confederation of Indian Industry-Enterprise Singapore India Ready Talent (IRT) Programme;
Encourage deeper parliamentary engagement through exchange programmes;
Facilitate public service exchanges and training at the senior officials’ level including via study visits;
Continue regular dialogue on consular matters between the respective concerned authorities, including ad-hoc consultations to address issues promptly;
Encourage a sustained level of engagement and interaction between think tanks, academia, educational and research institutions in both countries;
To continue to promote cultural exchanges including of artists, art groups and exhibitions;
Defence and Security Cooperation: Strategic Cooperation to Promote Regional Peace and Stability
Encourage continued exchanges and engagement on defence and security cooperation at all levels, including regular meetings between the two Defence Ministers through the Defence Ministers’ Dialogue and between senior Defence ministry officials through the Defence Policy Dialogue; · Continue military cooperation and exchanges through the joint conduct of army, naval, and air force exercises in various formats;
Deepen defence technology cooperation in emerging areas such as Quantum Computing, AI, Automation and Unmanned Vessels;
Continue the cooperation in maritime security and submarine rescue, as well as working closely within regional security architectures in line with the principles and areas of cooperation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific and the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative;
Strengthen cooperation in Maritime Domain Awareness between respective Information Fusion Centres, including through International Liaison Officers;
Singapore acknowledges with appreciation India’s interest in the Malacca Straits Patrol;
Reaffirming strong commitment to combat terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, and reiterating zero-tolerance to terrorism, both countries will strengthen cooperation to fight against global and regional terrorism and terror organizations, including those proscribed by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee and against terror financing, through bilateral mechanisms, FATF and other multilateral platforms;
Strengthen cooperation under the bilateral Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which facilitates cooperation between the two countries in criminal investigations and proceedings;
Regularly review the progress in bilateral relations through the Foreign Office Consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore and the Ministry of External Affairs of India;
The two Prime Ministers agreed to institutionalise the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable as a foremost mechanism to annually monitor the progress in the implementation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Fiinews.com
