India-Singapore Agreement on Navy Support
Recently, the fifth Defence Ministers’ Dialogue (DMD) between Singapore and India was virtually conducted. Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen addressed the meeting.
Key Points
- As per the official statement, India and Singapore have signed an implementing agreement on Submarine Rescue Support and Cooperation between the two Navies.
- Both the ministers ensured full support in the faster conclusion of agreements for facilitating the conduct of live firings and to establish reciprocal arrangements for the cross-attendance of military courses.
- The ministers have also agreed for expanding bilateral defence cooperation including the implementing agreement on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) cooperation.
SIMBEX and SIMTEX
- During the meeting, both the ministers expressed their happiness on the successful conduction of the 27th edition of SIMBEX and the 2nd edition of SIMTEX exercises in November 2020.
- Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) was held between the Indian and Singapore Navy in the Andaman Sea from November 23 to 25, 2020. SIMBEX is an annual exercise which is held since 1994.
- Trilateral Maritime Exercise (2nd edition) was held between India, Singapore, and Thailand in the Andaman Sea from November 21 to 22.
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR)
HADR is a programme launched by RSIS (Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies) to enhance cooperation on preparedness and response strategies to the unpredictable situations in Asia-Pacific. It was launched in 2015.