Singapore and India yesterday signed an agreement for their navies to extend rescue facilities to each other’s submarines. Dr Collin Koh, a Research Fellow at the RSIS said it was not surprising that the submarine pact was signed, as both navies have very close ties. While having such rescue pacts underlines a certain measure of mutual trust and confidence, “it’s one thing about signing on to the pacts and quite another about implementing them in times of a real contingency”, he said. It also does not necessarily mean Singapore seeks to operate regularly in India’s waters, said Dr Koh, who specialises in naval affairs.