Singapore, Aug 19: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the new chancery complex of the Indian High Commission in Singapore, underlining that the facility will reflect a “new era” in the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan was also present on the occasion.
Jaishankar is in the city-state for the fourth India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) scheduled to be held on Thursday.
“Joined FM @VivianBala of Singapore in laying the foundation stone of the new Chancery complex of @HCI_Singapore today,” he said in a social media post.
“Confident that this complex will reflect the new era of India-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and further strengthen services for the Indian diaspora,” Jaishankar said.
As per the Singapore Census of Population 2020, people of Indian origin constitute nine per cent of the 4.04 million resident population of the country.
Singapore also hosts 1.64 million foreigners, including Indian citizens.
According to the Indian mission, Indians in Singapore include students and people working in financial services, IT, construction and marine sectors.
Tamil is one of the four official languages of Singapore. The other three are English, Mandarin Chinese, and Malay.
Earlier in the day, Jaishankar and Balakrishnan also held a “detailed discussion” on further deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two nations and the current geopolitical situation.
“Look forward to further interacting with him during the 4th India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable tomorrow,” Jaishankar said in another post.
ISMR is a key platform for discussions on expanding bilateral economic and strategic cooperation.
The inaugural meeting of ISMR was held in New Delhi in September 2022, followed by the second meeting in Singapore in August 2024. The third ISMR meeting was held in New Delhi in August last year.
Besides Jaishankar, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada will also participate in the roundtable.
India and Singapore elevated their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2015, with cooperation spanning trade and investment, digitalisation, defence and security, education, skills, and emerging technologies.
Singapore is India’s largest trading partner in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).
It is the leading source of FDI, among the largest sources of external commercial borrowings and foreign portfolio investment.
Singapore was India’s sixth-largest trading partner in the financial year 2024-25. India’s imports from Singapore in 2024-25 were USD 21.2 billion, while the volume of exports to the country was USD 14.4 billion.
Over the past 10 years, Singapore’s annual investments in India ranged between USD 10 billion and USD 15 billion. (PTI)
