PM Modi Reaches Brunei For Historic Visit ; Next Stop Singapore | Know What's On Agenda

This marked the maiden visit of an Indian prime minister to the country in its 40-year-long establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Brunei. 

What did PM Modi say ahead of his visit?

Ahead of his visit to Brunei and Singapore, PM Modi on Tuesday expressed confidence of advancing India's historical ties with Brunei and deepening its Strategic Partnership with Singapore.

Noting that it will be first ever bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister to Brunei Darussalam, he said in his departure statement that he looked forward to his meetings with Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and other members of the royal family to advance the historical relationship to new heights.

"I look forward to my discussions to deepen our Strategic Partnership with Singapore, particularly in new and emerging areas of advanced manufacturing, digitalization, and sustainable development," he said, as per PTI.

PM Modi to visit Singapore

Following his official visit to Brunei, PM Modi is slated to visit Singapore on September 4-5 at the invitation of his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong.

During the visit after almost six years, PM Modi will meet the President of Singapore, H.E. Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and interact with Singaporean leadership.

PM Modi is also scheduled to meet business leaders from Singapore, MEA said in a statement.

What's on agenda?

For Brunei

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) secretary (east) Jaideep Mazumdar said that 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,” ANI quoted Mazumdar as saying.

"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. 

The MEA official 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," the MEA official added. 

For Singapore

On India-Singapore ties, MEA's secretary (East) Jaideep 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.