Singapore and India sat down yesterday to discuss new ways to elevate a fast-growing relationship that both sides describes as "excellent" and "issue-free".

Foreign Minister George Yeo and his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee met to New Delhi's Hyderabad House for the first joint ministerial commission meeting of the two sides.

The meeting, an annual event that will alternate between New Delhi and Singapore, is meant to push bilateral initiatives, exchange views on issues and identify new areas of cooperation. The mechanism was announced during Mr Mukherjee's visit to Singapore last year. People familiar with government thinking say having two equally influential ministers on board will help smooth out inter-ministerial differences on programmes and projects.

This is important, particularly in India, where ministries do not always see eye to eye.

With the Indian central bank last month allowing DBS to rapidly enhance its footprint in India with a five-old increase in branches, the last of the outstanding bilateral issues has been removed. Officials are now looking to build a patchwork of new ties.

That will include a soon-to-be concluded pact for Singapore's army to have a semi-permanent training facility in central India. Last year, the Republic's air force won log-term training rights in the eastern air base of Kalaikonda.

Singapore is also keen to get the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology to set up a campus on the island, and for its airlines to gain wider access to India's fast-expanding civil aviation market.

The discussions yesterday carried on over dinner. "There is much happening on the Asean-India front, and the ministers took the opportunity to catch up on their perceptions," said a person familiar with the discussions.

Earlier in the day, Mr Yeo called on Indian Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, He aslo held a meeting with the leadership of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Today, Mr Yeo will travel to the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. His engagements there will include a meeting with its chief Minister, who heads a party that sites in opposition to the national government in New Delhi.

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