PM Lawrence Wong Embarks on First Official Visit to India at Modi’s Invitation

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is making his first official visit to India from September 2 to 4, 2025, at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The trip comes as both countries commemorate two milestones — 60 years of Singapore-India diplomatic relations and Singapore’s 60th year of independence.

During his three-day visit, PM Wong will call on President Droupadi Murmu and hold bilateral talks with PM Modi, who will also host him at a lunch banquet. He will meet several senior Indian ministers, including: Jagat Prakash Nadda, Minister of Health and Family Welfare & Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers; Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs

PM Wong will also engage Indian business leaders in a closed-door roundtable and pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at the Raj Ghat memorial. In addition, he will meet overseas Singaporeans at an SG60 reception in New Delhi.

Accompanying him are Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Acting Transport Minister and Senior Minister of State for Finance Jeffrey Siow, and Minister of State Gan Siow Huang Foreign Affairs; Trade and Industry, along with senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, MFA, MTI, MOT, and the Ministry of Digital Development and Information.

During PM Wong’s absence, Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam will serve as Acting Prime Minister.

This visit marks the second meeting between Wong and Modi since Wong assumed office in May 2024. Their first encounter was during Modi’s state visit to Singapore in September 2024, where a warm photo of Modi giving Wong a bear hug went viral.

Geopolitical Context

The bilateral visit takes place amid escalating global trade and geopolitical tensions. Both Singapore and India have recently faced steep U.S. tariffs under President Donald Trump’s administration.

India is subject to a 50% tariff rate — one of the highest globally — due to its continued purchase of Russian oil and military equipment, while Singapore faces a 10% tariff rate.

On September 1, just ahead of Wong’s arrival, Modi attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China, where he was seen alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The meeting signaled closer ties among the three leaders, all of whom have had increasingly strained relations with Washington in recent months — a dynamic that has unexpectedly narrowed the gap between longtime rivals India and China.