India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Singapore, Australia and Thailand on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Singapore.
PM Modi started the day with a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Describing it as “a very good meeting”, the Indian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) tweeted: “Subjects pertaining to India-Singapore relations, particularly trade and people-to-people ties were discussed during the meeting.”
Following this, Modi had a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
“Both leaders had a good discussion on deepening ties in trade and investment, defence and security and other areas of bilateral cooperation,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
Later, the Indian Prime Minister met up with his Thai counterpart Prayut Chan-o-cha.
“Issues relating to trade, commerce and connectivity were among the various subjects discussed by the leaders,” the PMO said in a separate tweet following the meeting.
Prime Minister Modi began his two-day visit to Singapore Wednesday by delivering his keynote address at the prestigious Fintech Festival.
He became the first head of government to address the world’s largest event on financial technology.
Modi also held bilateral meetings with global leaders, including US Vice President Pence and Singapore premier Lee Hsein Loong.
During his visit to Singapore, Modi will attend the East Asia Summit, an ASEAN-India informal meet, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership summit.
Before leaving for Singapore, Modi said in New Delhi that his participation in the ASEAN-India and East Asia summits symbolised India’s “continued commitment” to strengthen its engagement with ASEAN members and with the wider Indo-Pacific region.
Modi also said he was confident that his visit to Singapore would impart fresh momentum to New Delhi’s growing partnership with ASEAN and East Asia Summit nations.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organisation comprising ten Southeast Asian countries, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration among its members and other Asian states.
(With inputs from agencies)