Finance Minister-led inter-ministerial panel meets Singapore President, discusses boosting ties

Inter-ministerial delegation led by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday met Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and discussed boosting partnership between the two countries.

Both sides discussed boosting the India-Singapore Strategic Partnership by focusing on key areas like digitalisation, green initiatives and skill development.

"FM Smt. @nsitharaman appreciated President Mr. @Tharman_S for being a strong proponent of multilateralism through his seminal contribution to developing far-reaching reforms that can enable governments and institutions to deal with 21st century challenges," the finance ministry said in a post on X.

During the meeting, Sitharaman expressed gratitude to the Singapore President for his invaluable contributions as a member of the G20 Expert Group on Strengthening MDBs during India Presidency in 2023.

Along with Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw were present for the meeting.

India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable 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 meeting will enable both sides to review various aspects of their strategic partnership and identify new avenues to further elevate and broaden it.

The delegation also met Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong earlier during the day.

During the interactions, the leaders discussed the need to strengthen partnership and broaden cooperation between the two countries.