Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday participated in the ASEAN-India Breakfast Summit in Singapore and underlined the need for maritime cooperation and centrality of trade for the prosperity of the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
Prime Minister Modi began his two-day visit to Singapore Wednesday by delivering his keynote address at the prestigious Fintech Festival.
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He also held separate bilateral meetings with the premiers of Singapore, Australia and Thailand and discussed ways to further strengthen ties, including in areas of trade, defence and security.
“PM Narendra Modi participated at ASEAN-India Breakfast Summit in Singapore. Reaffirmed cooperation in maritime domain and centrality of trade and investment towards prosperity of Indo-Pacific,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
“Had a great interaction with ASEAN leaders at the ASEAN-India Informal Breakfast Summit. We are happy that ties with ASEAN are strong and are contributing to a peaceful and prosperous planet,” Modi said in a tweet.
On Wednesday, PM Modi also met US Vice President Mike Pence and raked up the issue of terrorism sponsored from Pakistan pointing out that “all the traces or all the leads in global terror attacks ultimately lead to a single source”.
During a meeting on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit, PM Modi told Pence that political mainstreaming in Pakistan of people involved in terror activities should be a matter of concern for the international community.
The two leaders discussed a host of other issues including the roles of their respective nations in ensuring a free Indo-Pacific region and cooperation in defence and trade sectors.
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Briefing media after the meeting, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said during the discussion on terrorism, Pence referred to the coming 10th anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai Terror Attacks.
“In this context he greatly appreciated the cooperation which has been built between the United States and India on counter-terrorism,” Gokhale said.
“In response, the Prime Minister, while thanking him for these words also reminded him that in one way or another all the traces or all the leads in global terror attacks ultimately lead to a single source, a single place of origin,” he added.
“In that context he did point out that the mainstreaming of the people involved in Mumbai terror attacks in a political process which had taken place in a recent election in Pakistan should be a matter of serious concern not just to our two countries but to the international community.”
This was a reference to the Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s party contesting the general elections in Pakistan in July this year.
The Foreign Secretary said that Modi referred to his speech in Singapore in June at the Shangri-La Dialogue in which he had outlined India’s vision of the Indo-Pacific.
“We conveyed to Vice President Pence that his (Modi’s) vision of Indo-Pacific was gaining acceptability and that we should utilise the upcoming East Asia Summit to further build up on that,” Gokhale said.
“Vice President Pence also spoke of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said.
Read | PM Modi meets PMs of Australia, Thailand in Singapore
“He felt that India’s contribution in ensuring this would be important and we then discussed how both sides can strengthen cooperation in this area to ensure that this is an area of growth, of prosperity, of development and of benefit for the countries of the region in the future.”
Before leaving for Singapore, Modi in New Delhi had 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.
(With inputs from agencies)
