Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday left for Singapore after a brief halt in Malaysia where he met his newly-elected Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad and discussed ways to boost bilateral ties.
Mr. Modi congratulated Mr. Mahathir on being elected Prime Minister. Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Wan Azizah was at the airport to see off Mr. Modi.
Singapore, a bridge between India and ASEAN: Modi
At a Business and Community Event in Singapore, Mr. Modi said, "Relations between India and Singapore are among the warmest and closest."
Mr. Modi told the Indian diaspora that "India and Singapore are building a partnership of our age."
He said:
"When India turned to the East, Singapore became a partner and a bridge between India and ASEAN.
"In India, the present is changing rapidly. At a speed and a scale which was not known so far. A ‘New India’ is taking shape."
Visits India-Singapore start-ups exhibition
Mr. Modi visited the India-Singapore Enterprise and Innovation Exhibition at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre and viewed an exhibition of 30 start-ups from the two countries.
He was joined by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran.
The day-long exhibition, InSpreneur 2.0, is an initiative spearheaded by the Indian High Commission.
“It is very interesting to see both India and Singapore collaborating in med-tech, Artificial Intelligence and deep technologies. And platforms like this will get encouraged by the Prime Minister Modi,” said Girija Pande, chairman, Apex Avlon Consuling.
Among the 30 start-ups are iNICU Medical, which monitors health of premature babies, and Citta.AI, a remote health monitoring and Precision Grid for monitoring soil and crop yields.
Such health technologies would democratise the health services in India, said Deep Singhania, advisor to Citta.AI.
“These tech start-ups will reach out to mass population in India and Southeast Asia,” he observed.
Ravneet Kaur, co-founder of iNICO, said, “With our NEO BOT and IoT based device in built with artificial intelligence to predict the onset of infection in pre-symptomatic stage.”
Arrives in Singapore
Mr. Modi arrived in Singapore on the last leg of his three-nation tour. He will hold talks with the country’s top leadership and deliver a keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being greeted by dignitaries on his arrival in Singapore.
Modi’s “productive discussions” in Indonesia
Mr. Modi visited Indonesia on Wednesday to elevate bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The two countries condemned terrorism in all its forms, as Mr. Modi held “productive discussions” with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
The two countries also signed 15 agreements, including one to boost defence cooperation, and called for freedom of navigation in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
Start-up MoU signed in Singapore before Modi’s visit
Singapore start-ups can now gain faster entry to India’s start-up ecosystem to form partnerships and co-innovate with Indian entities after a state-owned enterprise in Singapore signed a memorandum of understanding with one of the largest global entrepreneurship organisations of Indian-origin.
The MoU between Enterprise Singapore (ESG) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Singapore was signed on Wednesday, a day before Mr. Modi’s arrival in the country on a three-day visit.
The MoU kick-starts an incubation programme that aims to foster collaboration between Singapore and Indian start-ups through jointly organised networking events, workshops and sessions with in-market mentors.
Modi among first world leaders to meet Mahathir
Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, on Thursday, May 31, 2018.
Mr. Modi, who arrived in Malaysia on Thursday on the second leg of his three-nation tour, met 92-year-old Mr. Mahathir in his office at Perdana Putra Complex, Putrajaya.
“Glad to have met Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. I thank him for the warm welcome. We had productive discussions on further cementing India-Malaysia ties,” Mr. Modi tweeted in both Malay and English.
The two leaders discussed ways to boost economic and cultural relations between India and Malaysia.
Mr. Modi is among the first world leaders to meet Mr. Mahathir, who became the world’s oldest elected leader when his opposition alliance registered a stunning victory over the Barisan Nasional coalition, which had ruled Malaysia since 1957. Mr. Mahathir was sworn in as Malaysia’s Prime Minister on May 10.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the two leaders had a productive exchange of views on strengthening the strategic partnership.
Malaysia and India have close ties with culture and history as well as in various key areas, particularly infrastructure development, education, tourism and defense.
India is Malaysia’s largest trading partner in South Asia with total turnover of RM 61.43 billion ($15.44 billion) in 2017.
Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office said that Mr. Modi will be discussing aspects relating to India-Malaysia cooperation with Mr. Mahathir. “Malaysia is a strategic partner and a priority country in our Act East Policy,” Mr. Kumar said.
Mr. Modi had announced in New Delhi that on his way to Singapore, he will make a brief halt in Malaysia to meet Mr. Mahathir and congratulate the new Malaysian leadership.
This is the first meeting between the two leaders. Mr. Modi last visited Malaysia in November 2015.
