New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday embarked on a 2-nation tour, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam. This is being described as a very “special” visit since this is the first time that an Indian PM will be visiting Brunei. The visit is being seen as a celebration of the 40 years of diplomatic relations between the 2 countries.
The PM was invited to the country by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who is the monarch of the country. He is the second-longest reigning monarch in the world. The PM will be visiting the famous Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque in the country, during this visit.
Special relations between India and Brunei
This will not be the first time that PM Modi will be visiting a mosque in some foreign country. Earlier also he has visited a number of mosques located in the Middle East. The visit of the PM is also special, given that at least 14,000 Indians are settled in this country. Most of the Indians living here are either doctors or teachers.
One must note that Brunei has a special role in India’s space program. The country houses an Indian space monitoring centre. Indian satellites and their launches are monitored from the Indian Space Center in Brunei. Thus there is a special bond as far as security is concerned between the 2 countries.
Joint exercises are held regularly between the Navy and Coast Guard of both the countries. Not only that, Brunei is also an important partner of India at the ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific.
India and Brunei are important bilateral partners: MEA
The Ministry of External Affairs briefing the media about the PM’s visit recalled that the ruler of Brunei had earlier visited India. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah paid State visits to India in 1992 and in 2008 and he also attended the ASEAN India commemorative Summits in 2012 and in 2018, said the Ministry in a media briefing. The ruler has also been the chief guest at a Republic Day parade in New Delhi, along with other ASEAN leaders, they added.
The MEA said that India had received valuable support from Brunei in its space program and has signed 3 MoUs in this area. They have also established a Telemetry, Tracking and Command station in Brunei in 2000 and this tracks and monitors all our eastward launches of satellites and satellite launch vehicles. Defence is also an important area of cooperation between the 2 countries, they added.
Brunei is also an important partner in India’s Act East Policy and the vision for the Indo-Pacific. This visit by the PM therefore assumes additional importance, coming in an year which marks a decade of India’s ‘Act East’ Policy.