New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): India and Singapore held the 18th round of Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in Singapore on Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official statement.

As per the MEA, the Indian delegation was led by Jaideep Muzumdar, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, and the Singapore side was headed by Luke Goh, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The MEA noted that the co-chairs reviewed the entire gamut of India-Singapore bilateral and multilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global matters of mutual interest.

'The discussion focused on the six pillars of cooperation (Digitalization, Skills Development, Sustainability, Healthcare & Medicine, Advanced Manufacturing and Connectivity), which were identified during the two rounds of India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable for further strengthening bilateral cooperation', the MEA said.

Notably, the discussion also covered bilateral cooperation in the areas of defence, trade, investments, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

India and Singapore discussed the roadmap for implementation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and Singapore, which was announced during the visit of PM Modi to Singapore in September 2024.

As India and Singapore celebrate the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations this year, the MEA noted that the 18th meeting of this dialogue mechanism was timely for reviewing the progress of outcomes of recent high-level exchanges and to set the agenda of exchanges and cooperation for this special year.

It was noted that both the sides agreed to convene the next round of India-Singapore Foreign Office Consultations in India at mutually convenient dates.

MEA said that during the visit to Singapore, Secretary (East) called on Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, had a meeting with Beh Swan Gin, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry and also interacted with scholars and academics at an interaction organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. (ANI)