Strengthening the 'Act East' policy, India on Wednesday signed an agreement with Singapore that will allow Singapore to utilise Indian naval facilities and assets for training purpose, while both countries revised Defence Cooperation Agreement to further strengthen the longstanding defence relationship between the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the Indian Armed Forces.
With an aim to contain China's dominance, New Delhi has been working to deepen military ties with ASEAN countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia. Visiting Singapore defence minister Ng Eng Hen during delegation level talk with his Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman at South Block in the national capital, has signed an agreement for naval cooperation on the lines of Army and Indian Air Force.
A joint statement issued by the ministry of defence after the talks clearly stated conclusion of "India-Singapore Bilateral Agreement for Navy Cooperation, which will lead to increased cooperation in maritime security, joint exercises, temporary deployments from each other’s naval facilities and mutual logistics support".
Singapore is already using Indian military establishments for training its armed forces. For this, an agreement was singed in 2007 between the countries, under which Singapore army can train or conduct military exercises of its mechanised force at Indian army's Babina military station and artillery training at Deolali ranges. Indian Air Force's Kalaikunda airbase has also been used by Singapore air force to train its pilots for missions.
"With this new agreement, Singapore navy can use Indian naval assets and facilities for logistic support,"explained an MoD official. As of now both countries conduct naval drill 'Simbex'.
Both ministers looked forward to the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise next year. Appreciating India’s leading role in the Indian Ocean Region, Ng agreed to India’s proposal for continuous and institutionalised naval engagements in their shared maritime space, including establishing maritime exercises with like-minded regional/ ASEAN partners. Singapore also appreciated India’s offer of its test ranges and infrastructure to Singapore for the conduct of testing and evaluation for R&D projects.
According to the joint statement, Ng expressed his appreciation for India’s continued support for the SAF’s training in India, covered by the Air Force and Army bilateral agreements.
"Both ministers welcomed the renewal of the Air Force bilateral agreement on the sidelines of the 11th Singapore-India Defence Policy Dialogue in January this year, and looked forward to the successful renewal of the Army Bilateral Agreement next year", statement added.
On regional security, Indian and Singapore reaffirmed the importance of maintaining maritime freedom of navigation and trade consistent with international law.
"India plays a vital role in the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus. Both ministers also discussed Singapore’s proposal to expand the Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea to all ADMM-Plus countries as well as to establish guidelines for air encounters between military aircraft, in order to reduce the risk of miscalculations," joint statement further read.
While on terrorism, both countries emphasised the importance of international cooperation in tackling transnational security threats, and in particular measures to collectively tackle the threat of terrorism.
