India today asserted that it has a very "robust and wholesome" relationship with Singapore, and rejected suggestions that its absence from the Shangri-La Dialogue has clouded bilateral ties.
"We don't attend every dialogue, everywhere in the world, or every edition of a dialogue. No significance can be attached to India's absence at the Shangri-La Dialogue... I don't see that there are implications," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.
He also asserted that the India-Singapore ties are "very strong, wholesome, multidimensional".
The relationship is growing very fast and the leadership of both countries are greatly investing in strengthening this relationship, Baglay added.
India withdrew its delegation led by Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre from the dialogue, organised by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), after he was given a slot lower than Pakistan's Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, General Zubair Mahmood Hayat.
However, Indian High Commissioner to Singapore Jawed Ashraf attended the event.
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