New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Brunei and Singapore next week, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday.
“Prime Minister Modi will visit Brunei on September 3-4 at the invitation of His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. This will be the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Brunei. The visit marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Brunei. Prime Minister Modi will leave Brunei and visit Singapore on September 4 and 5 at the invitation of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing on Friday.
PM Modi was earlier scheduled to attend the sixth summit of the BIMSTEC for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, which was scheduled to be held in Bangkok on September 3-4. It was postponed last week due to the formation of a new government in the country.
Last month, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Brunei Foreign Minister Erywan Pehin Yusof on the sidelines of the ASEAN meetings in Vientiane and jointly launched the logo celebrating 40 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sultan of Brunei first met during the 25th ASEAN Summit in Nay Pyi Taw in November 2014. They met again during the 2017 East Asia Summit held in Manila.
In January 2018, the Brunei Sultan, along with 10 ASEAN heads of state and government, visited India for the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit. He was also the ‘Chief Guest’ at India’s 69th Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2018.
In 2013, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Brunei Darussalam to attend the 11th ASEAN-India Summit and the 8th EAS Summit. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, crowned as the 29th Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in August 1968, made his first state visit to India in September 1992. His second state visit was in May 2008. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the Brunei Darussalam government has been supporting India’s ‘Look East’ and ‘Act East’ policies to expand and deepen cooperation with ASEAN. Indian naval and coast guard ships have regularly visited Brunei and two Indian defence companies – Bharat Electronics Limited and MKU Limited – participated for the first time in the Defence Industry Exhibition organised by the Brunei Armed Forces in June 2024. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah visited the Indian stall during the Expo and appreciated the participation of Indian companies.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, there are currently about 14,500 expatriate Indians in Brunei Darussalam out of a total population of about 4,50,500, with more than half of the Indian expatriates being semi-skilled and unskilled workers working in the oil and gas industry, construction, retail trade, etc.
After Brunei, PM Modi will travel to Singapore – a country with which India is exploring the possibility of enhancing cooperation in digital, skill development, healthcare, connectivity and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Earlier this week, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw led the Indian delegation at the 2nd India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) held in Singapore.
During their visit, the Indian Ministerial delegation also jointly met the Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong, who led the Singapore delegation for the first ISMR to be held in New Delhi in September 2022.
After his meeting with the visiting Indian ministers on Monday, the Singapore PM said, “I am pleased that progress has been made on many fronts since our last meeting and new ideas of cooperation, including in advanced manufacturing and connectivity, are being pursued. These initiatives will pave the way for closer strategic cooperation and partnership between India and Singapore.”
–IANS
GKT/
