Sithraman, Goyal, Jaishankar, Vaishnaw to participate in India-Singapore ministerial meet

New Delhi: Four union ministers - Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, S Jaishankar and Ashwini Vaishnaw, will attend the India-Singapore ministerial meet on Monday with a view to further strengthen trade and economic ties between the two countries.

The commerce and industry ministry on Sunday said the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) is scheduled to take place in Singapore on August 26.

Goyal will engage with leading global business figures in Singapore, including DBS Bank, Temasek Holdings, OMERS, Keppel Infrastructure, and the Owners Forum.

The minister will explore strategies to bolster bilateral trade and investment, capitalising on India's burgeoning market opportunities and its dynamic growth trajectory, it said.

"Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal will participate in the second ISMR along with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw," it said.

During their visit, the ministers will interact with their Singaporean counterparts and leadership, it added.

ISMR is a unique mechanism established to set a new agenda for India-“Singapore bilateral relations. Its inaugural meeting was held in New Delhi in September 2022.

"This second meeting will enable both sides to review various aspects of their strategic partnership and identify new avenues to further elevate and broaden it," it said.

Singapore has been a major source of FDI (foreign direct investment) for India. In 2023-24, Singapore was the largest source of these inflows with USD 11.77 billion investments into Indian markets.

The cumulative inflow of FDI from Singapore from April 2000 to March 2024 was USD 159.94 billion.

In bilateral trade, Singapore was the sixth largest global trade partner of India in 2023-24 with a total trade of USD 35.61 billion which accounts approximately 29 per cent of India's total trade with ASEAN (Association for Southeast Asian nations).

India's exports stood at USD 14.41 billion, while imports were USD 21.2 billion. The trade gap is in the favour of Singapore.