Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore Dr Vivian Balakrishnan starts his two-day visit to India today. He will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and then visit Guwahati, Assam tomorrow.
Making the announcement through a press release, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Singapore said, “In New Delhi, Minister Balakrishnan will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and co-chair the fifth meeting of the India-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) for bilateral cooperation with Minister of External Affairs of India Sushma Swaraj.”
The India-Singapore JMC will review the state of bilateral relations and discuss new areas of cooperation. Minister Balakrishnan will speak on the topic “India, Singapore and ASEAN: Shared History, Common Future” at the Singapore Symposium 2017 co-organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
In the symposium, Dr Balakrishnan will speak on the current state of Singapore-India relations, India’s importance and role in the region, and the ways that Singapore can continue to catalyse greater Indian engagement with ASEAN.
India and ASEAN are marking the 25th anniversary of their relations this year and, together with ASEAN, are looking to cooperate in new digital spaces and continue to promote connectivity, free trade and an inclusive regional architecture, in order to build a common future of stability, growth and prosperity.
Gopinath Pillai, Chairman, ISAS-NUS and Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, will also speak on the occasion.
Singapore Symposium 2017 is the fifth edition in the series to be held in India. The first two editions of the Singapore Symposium were held in Delhi, while the third and fourth were held in Chennai and Mumbai, respectively.
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On Wednesday, Vivian Balakrishnan will proceed to Guwahati. He will be hosted to lunch by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Both will also witness the signing of agreements to kick-start project implementation for the North-East Skills Centre (NESC) in Guwahati. The NESC is Singapore’s third skill centre in India and will contribute to the development of India’s North-East region.
Minister Balakrishnan will be accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.