PM Lee assures PM Modi that Singapore will care for Indian workers amid Covid-19 crisis

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong confirmed his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, on Thursday that his government will take care of Indian migrant workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two leaders addressed the COVID-19 situation in their countries and "agreed to work together on the challenges posed by the pandemic, keep supply chains entire, and keep essential supplies flowing", stated in a statement posted by Lee on Facebook.

As of Thursday, Singapore has reported over 11,000 COVID-19 cases, with a bulk of them linked to work permit holders living in foreign worker dormitories, Channel News Asia said. A total of 21 of those dormitories are designated as isolation areas as the Coronavirus was continuing to affect migrant workers.

"I thanked PM Modi for India's help once we brought home some Singaporeans from India recently. I assured him that we'd look after Indian migrant workers here, even as we take care of Singaporeans," Lee wrote within the Facebook post.

"The migrant workers made personal losses to come to work here. They need to make many contributions to Singapore, so we've got a responsibility for them," he added.

Lee also said he appreciated Modi's "affirmation of our efforts in taking care of the migrant workers and his assurance that they'll not forget this".

Modi tweeted that he had exchanged views on the COVID-19 pandemic with Lee and "thanked him for the help and care being continued to Indian citizens in Singapore". The India-Singapore strategic partnership can contribute to stability and prosperity within the post-COVID world, he added.

Lee noted that Singapore was within the midst of a "circuit breaker". At the same time, India had implemented a nationwide lockdown since late March, "not a straightforward decision in an exceedingly huge country of 1.3 billion people".

Meanwhile, external affairs minister S Jaishankar discussed the COVID-19 crisis and ways to beat the pandemic during phone conversations together with his counterparts from the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Brazil on Thursday.

"The changing world of #corona era diplomacy. Strong friendships thrive even virtually. A busy day was talking to Foreign Ministers of Russia, Brazil, united states, Saudi Arabia and Oman," Jaishankar tweeted.

He said he and US secretary of state Mike Pompeo had discussed the COVID-19 responses of the two countries and therefore the "importance of international cooperation" and working closely on the implications and consequences of the pandemic. They also exchanged views on the Afghanistan situation, he said.

State department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said Pompeo and Jaishankar discussed bilateral and international cooperation to contain and mitigate COVID-19, including "ensuring the provision of pharmaceutical and medical supplies".

Jaishankar tweeted that he and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the forthcoming BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) foreign ministers' meeting and reviewed recent developments regarding Afghanistan. "Our cooperation on #coronavirus reflects our special friendship," he said.

During his conversation with Oman's minister Yusuf bin Alawi, Jaishankar expressed his appreciation for Oman taking care of Indian expatriates and guaranteed him of India's support within the collective fight against the Coronavirus. The conversation also assumed significance as an Omani princess defined on Wednesday she had no connection to a fake tweet posted by a person impersonating her.

Jaishankar thanked Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan al Saud for taking care of the Indian community within the kingdom and discussed "our shared interest in assuring the health and food security".

In his phone conversation with Brazil's minister Ernesto Araujo, Jaishankar examined the follow of President Jair Bolsonaro's visit to India in January and exchanged notes on global issues, including the pandemic.