New Delhi: India and Singapore on Wednesday signed an agreement to deepen cooperation in the maritime security domain and called for ensuring freedom of navigation in critical sea lanes against the backdrop of China's increasing military manoeuvres in the Indo-Pacific region.
The two countries also resolved to boost overall defence cooperation with a particular focus on combating terrorism during wide-ranging talks between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen.
The pact on naval cooperation provides for increased engagement in the maritime security sphere, joint exercises, temporary deployments from each other's naval facilities and logistics support.
"India and Singapore remain strongly committed to tackle the transnational security threats," Sitharaman said at a joint media interaction with Ng, noting that both sides agreed to ramp up overall defence cooperation.
The Singaporean defence minister called the talks "overwhelmingly successful and productive" and emphasised the need for concerted regional and global efforts to deal with terrorism and other challenges such as tackling chemical and biological weapons.
Referring to regional security scenario in the maritime domain, both ministers reaffirmed the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation and trade consistent with international law, a joint statement issued after the talks said. Appreciating India's leading role in the Indian Ocean Region, Ng agreed to India's proposal for continuous and institutionalised naval engagements in shared maritime space of the two countries, including establishing maritime exercises with like-minded regional and ASEAN partners.
However, Ng, speaking at a think-tank yesterday, had expressed Singapore's reservation over the proposed quadrilateral coalition of India, the US, Japan and Australia.