PM Modi set to visit Singapore to attend 13th East Asia Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark to Singapore this evening to attend the 13th East Asia Summit, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and other associated meetings of the ASEAN Summit.

It is to be noted that the 13th East Asia Summit is currently underway.

PM Modi will deliver a keynote address at the FinTech Conference, a part of the 3rd Singapore FinTech Festival. Interestingly, PM Modi is the first head of a country who has been invited to present a keynote address at Fintech.

Secretary East, Ministry of External Affairs, Vijay Thakur Singh told in a media briefing in new Delhi last evening that Prime Minister Modi will also launch APIX, a digital platform putting together financial institutions of ASEAN on one platform. About 40 thousand people are expected to take part in the Fintech Festival.

PM Modi will also meet the India-Singapore Hackathon contestants. The Prime Minister will further attend second RCEP meeting where 16 participating nation heads will discuss ways to strengthen economic relations.

Prime Minister Modi will also participate in the 15th ASEAN- India breakfast summit and East Asia lunch retreat where the leaders will review the progress made so far in regional and global spheres. The Prime Minister is also scheduled to hold several bilateral meetings including one with US Vice President Mike Pence.

India-ASEAN: As strategic partners, India and ASEAN enjoy close trade and economic relations. Trade between India and ASEAN stood at USD 81.33 billion in 2017-18 and constitutes 10.58% of India’s total trade. Exports to ASEAN countries constitute 11.28% of our total exports.

India and ASEAN have 30 dialogue mechanisms cutting across various sectors and operating at various levels which meet regularly. This includes a Summit and 7 Ministerial meetings in Foreign Affairs, Defence, Commerce, Agriculture, Environment, Renewable Energy and Telecommunications.

Minister of State for External Affairs General (Retd) VK Singh attended the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers Meeting and 8th EAS Foreign Ministers Meeting in Singapore in August 2018.

Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation attended the 6th RCEP Trade Ministers’ Meeting and 6th East-Asia Economic Ministers’ Meeting (EAS-EMM) in September 2018.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attended the 5th ADMM-Plus Meeting held in Singapore on 19th and 20th October 2018. Minister of State for Tourism KJ Alphons attended ASEAN-India Tourism Ministers Meeting in Thailand in January 2018. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh hosted ASEAN-India Agriculture and Forestry Ministerial Meeting in January 2018.

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