India and Singapore have agreed to cooperate in sharing key intelligence inputs to deal with terrorism, money laundering, organized crime and drugs trafficking and assist each other in disaster management.
"The two sides decided to cooperate and exchange intelligence and information in these key security-related areas and also extend assistance to each other in the field of disaster management," a senior official told PTI Wednesday here.These decisions were taken during wide-ranging talks Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who is on a three-day visit to the city-state, had with Singapore's President S R Nathan, Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong and Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar, who is the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Law.
Stressing that intelligence sharing is a key element for combating terrorism, money laundering, organized transnational crime and drugs trafficking, the official said the two sides will be sharing vital inputs in a bid to tackle them.
Leading a six-member delegation of top officials, Patil discussed a range of security-related issues to enhance bonds and capacity building between various agencies and police forces of the two countries.
The official said the Home Minister's talks with the leadership here "have been held in a very cordial atmosphere and will reap benefits for the two countries. They focused on peace and security issues as also India's role in ASEAN," a powerful grouping of South-East Asian countries.
The Singaporean leaders have stated that strict vigilance had helped avert terrorist strikes and combat drug trafficking in the city-state.
