Singapore’s foreign employment policies are a concern to India because they contravene a bilateral free trade agreement, the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on Wednesday (April 5), but a review of the pact is unaffected and is going ahead.

The ministry was responding to a query by TODAY after the Indian media reported this week that New Delhi has placed on hold the review of its Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with
Singapore.

Quoting unnamed sources, The Times of India (TOI) and Hindustan Times had reported that this came about because of the restrictions placed by Singapore on visas for Indian IT professionals to work in the city-state.

“India has not put the review of the India-Singapore CECA on hold; the agreement continues in force,” the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in an email statement.

… “Given that overall bilateral cooperation is going well, Modi will find a way to untie this knot, and the CECA episode should not significantly derail the progress of Singapore-India ties,” said Associate Professor Alan Chong of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, referring to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.