New Delhi [India], September 18 (ANI): India and Singapore held discussions on the robust bilateral relations at the 17th round of Foreign Office Consultations, held in New Delhi on Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The Foreign Office Consultations were co-chaired by Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Saurabh Kumar and the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Law and concurrently Second Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, Luke Goh, the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official release.

Coming close on the heels of the visit of Prime Minister of Singapore to India Lee Hsien Loong for the G20 Summit, the FOC provided an opportunity to follow up on the Leaders' discussions and review the robust bilateral relationship.

Both sides expressed pleasure with the robust political engagements that occurred this year as India hosted numerous Singaporean Ministers for G20 meetings in various places.

The Permanent Secretary also congratulated India for a successful G20 Presidency.

Moreover, the two sides discussed areas of ongoing collaboration such as trade and investment, defencesecurity, fintech, digitalisation, green energy, skill development and people-to-people ties, the MEA release said.

They also discussed the progress made on certain development engines highlighted during the maiden meeting of the India-Singapore Ministerial Round-table (ISMR) in September 2022, and they looked forward to the next edition.

According to the MEA release, both sides also discussed regional, global and multilateral issues of common interest. The Indian side appreciated Singapore for joining the International Solar Alliance earlier in June this year and thanked Singapore for joining the'Global Biofuels Alliance' which was launched at the G20 Leaders' Summit.

Second Permanent Secretary Goh also met the Law Secretary, the release said.

Both sides agreed to hold the next round of FOC in Singapore on a mutually convenient date. (ANI)