NEW DELHI: Strengthening their bilateral relationship, India and Singapore shared a Letter of Intent (LoI) on Wednesday to provide access to Singapore to the Chandipur Integrated Test Range in Odisha, which is a dedicated missile test site.
The letter was exchanged in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister of Singapore Dr NG Eng Hen.
“They witnessed the exchange of a Letter of Intent to register both sides’ commitment to conclude a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate the use of Chandipur Integrated Test Range by the Singapore defence establishment,” said the Ministry of Defence in its release. India has also opened its air force and artillery firing ranges to the Singapore Armed Forces.
Singh and Dr NG co-chaired the 4th Singapore-India Defence Ministers’ Dialogue at Singapore and expressed satisfaction at the improving defence ties.
They reaffirmed their commitment to support further initiatives that would promote stability.
Singh reaffirmed India’s full support and active participation in the regional security agreement, namely the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM Plus) and its many initiatives.
Dr Ng expressed support for India’s upcoming co-chairmanship of the ADMM Plus Experts’ Working Group on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and welcomed India’s deepening engagements with other ASEAN States, both in bilateral and multilateral formats.
Singh also offered setting up of a Joint Test Facilities under the Defence Testing Infrastructure Scheme of India. Dr Ng agreed to explore further opportunities for joint collaboration.