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Singapore India Relationship

Singapore and India have traditionally enjoyed warm and close relations due to historical and cultural ties. Relations have now flourished to cover a broad spectrum of political, economic, cultural, educational, human relations development and people-to-people exchanges. Economic cooperation between Singapore and India in the fields of trade and investment have also expanded significantly in the past decade.

The friendly ties between Singapore and India are also manifested in the numerous contacts between our leaders, officials and business delegations. A recent highlight in Singapore-India relations was the state visit to India by Singpoare’s President S R Nathan in January 2003. In April 2002, India’s Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee made an official visit to Singapore. As a result of the visit, Singapore and India have established a Joint Study Group (JSG) to look into establishing a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). The JSG successfully completed its work, as scheduled, within a year. In April 2003, Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong reciprocated Prime Minister Vajpayee’s 2002 visit by making a state visit to India, where both Prime Ministers witnessed the launch of negotiations for the CECA. When concluded, the CECA will liberalise trade in goods and services, facilitate investment, as well as strengthen economic cooperation in the areas such as life sciences, information technology, tourism, and civil aviation, between Singapore and India.