2025: A milestone in India-Singapore relations

Singapore, Dec 24 (PTI) India and Singapore celebrated 60 years of their diplomatic ties in 2025, with both President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong visiting Delhi to strengthen the long-standing partnership between the two countries.

The two countries also unveiled a roadmap to expand their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership by deepening trade and ensuring better market access, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Singaporean counterpart Wong signalling firm resolve to jointly navigate the global trade disruptions caused by the US' tariff tussle.

The year began with the visit of Singapore's Indian-origin President Tharman to Delhi in January, during which the two sides unveiled a joint logo, symbolising their enduring partnership and highlighting the significant milestone of the 60th anniversary.

Singapore is a key pillar of India’s Act East Policy and its vision of the Indo-Pacific. The bilateral cooperation has deepened and diversified over the years. India-Singapore ties are characterised by strengthening political, defence, economic, cultural, educational and people-to-people contacts.

"The state visit of President Tharman to India set the stage for a series of engagements in this anniversary year," said the Indian High Commissioner to Singapore Shilpak Ambule.

The ties were further cemented when Prime Minister Wong visited India in September.

During Prime Minister Wong's visit to India, the two sides launched an ambitious roadmap for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Ambule said.

In the same month, news of the death of youth heartthrob Zubeen Garg from Singapore shattered the hearts of millions of music lovers in India, especially those from northeastern Assam.  Garg, 52, a popular singer from Assam, died while scuba diving in Singapore on September 19.

Garg sustained injuries during scuba diving and was rushed to a hospital, where he died in the intensive care unit while undergoing treatment.

In 2025, India and Singapore witnessed several high-level visits.

In July, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar travelled to Singapore, where he appreciated the “steady progress" in various bilateral initiatives and met Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.

India will play an increasingly important role globally as the world "inexorably" transitions into multipolarity, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said after holding talks with Jaishankar.

The 3rd round of India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) was held in New Delhi in August, during which the two sides deliberated on an ambitious proposal to lay an undersea cable to carry solar energy from India to Singapore that will also provide data connectivity.

The two sides reviewed the progress of various bilateral cooperation initiatives under the six pillars of ISMR, including Advanced Manufacturing, Connectivity, Digitalisation, Healthcare & Medicine, Skills Development and Sustainability.  India and Singapore also have one of the most exhaustive architectures for structured periodic interactions on defence cooperation, spanning from apex political leadership down to staff levels of all three Armed Forces and DRDO.

In this series, the Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX-25) held between July 28 and August 1 marked yet another chapter in the "strong and enduring" maritime partnership between the Indian Navy and the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).

Indian naval ship Satpura visited Singapore in July to participate in a bilateral maritime exercise that aims to enhance interoperability while reinforcing a shared commitment to maritime security and regional stability in the Indo-Pacific.

Annual dialogues related to Defence Cooperation were also held in 2025.

Army Staff Talks were held in Pune in March, while the Defence Working Group Meeting was held in Singapore in September.

Also, Navy-to-Navy Staff Talks were organised in New Delhi in October, as Air Staff Talks were held in Singapore in November.

In addition to periodic military exercises, bilateral engagements included Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan visiting Singapore in May.

He attended the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue as well as interacted with Minister for Defence Chan Chun Seng and Chief of Defence Forces, Vice-Adm Aaron Beng, who had earlier visited India in March.

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, visited Singapore in November and met with Singaporean leadership and investors from the semiconductor sector.

Singapore’s Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs, K Shanmugam, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade and Industry Gan Siow Huang participated in the 30th CII Partnership Summit 2025 in Visakhapatnam in November.  Gan Siow Huang also visited Bengaluru to inaugurate the India office of the Singapore Business Federation.   Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal visited Singapore in March for the Singapore Maritime Week 2025. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal travelled to Singapore in October.

Chief Minister of Telangana A Revanth Reddy, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu also visited Singapore.

Then Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna visited Singapore and had a meeting with Chief Justice of Singapore Sundaresh Menon in April. Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal also visited Singapore, while Singapore’s Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs Edwin Tong travelled to India.

An all-party parliamentary delegation visited Singapore in May and met several leaders. It also interacted with think-tank scholars, media and the Indian community.  PTI GS RD ZH RD RD