By Simran Sodhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for an official visit to Brunei and Singapore on September 3. PM Modi will be visiting Brunei on September 3-4 at the invitation of Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah with the aim to further strengthen bilateral cooperation.
Significantly, this is the first ever bilateral visit by an Indian PM to Brunei and a visit that was long overdue. It also marks 40 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Brunei.
Before his departure, the PM posted on X, “Over the next two days, will be visiting Brunei Darussalam and Singapore. During the various engagements in these nations, the focus will be on further deepening India’s ties with them. India-Brunei Darussalam diplomatic ties complete 40 glorious years. I look forward to meeting His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah.”
In a briefing ahead of the PM’s visit, Ministry of External Affairs’ secretary (East) Jaideep Mazumdar said the prime minister will hold bilateral discussions on all aspects of relations and cooperation with Brunei.
“As you know, we share a very warm and friendly relationship with Brunei and our engagements cover multiple areas such as defence, trade and investment, energy, space, technology, health, capacity, building, culture and vibrant people-to-people exchanges,” he said.
“The Indian diaspora in Brunei is about 14,000 and they comprise a substantial number of doctors and teachers in Brunei who have earned goodwill and respect for their contributions to Brunei economy and society,” he added.
It is to be noted here that the outreach to the Indian diaspora has been a hallmark of PM Modi’s foreign policy.
Secretary (East) added that Brunei is an important partner for India’s ‘Act East Policy’ and the vision for the Indo-Pacific.
“As we mark a decade of our Act East policy this year, the visit assumes additional significance. Brunei has been our Country Coordinator in ASEAN from 2012 to 2015 and played a key role in our further engagements with ASEAN and continues to do so today,” he said at the briefing.
After Brunei, PM Modi will be travelling to Singapore on September 4-5 at the invitation of his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong. The PM is visiting Singapore after nearly six years.
During the visit, PM Modi will call on President of Singapore H.E. Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam and also interact with the Singaporean leadership. PM Modi will also meet business leaders from Singapore, the ministry of external affairs said in a statement.
With reference to India-Singapore ties, Mr. Mazumdar said, “Our trade and investment flows have shown a steady growth, we have a robust defence cooperation and growing exchanges in culture and education. We have identified new anchors of our partnership under the India-Singapore ministerial roundtable framework.”
There will be an interaction with the CEOs and other business leaders in Singapore during Prime Minister Modi’s visit, he added.
