Singapore PM Lee's India visit to focus on investment, trade

Singapore: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will make a two-day state visit to India from tomorrow, seeking to boost the already strong and multifaceted bilateral ties which has seen growing trade and investments. Accompanied by his wife, Lee will lead a high-level delegation that includes the Speaker of Singapore Parliament Michael Palmer, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat and senior government officials. “Prime Minister Lee’s visit is very important because it enables the high-level focus of the bilateral relationship,” Indian High Commissioner to Singapore TCA Raghavan told PTI. Lee is making the bilateral visit after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Singapore last November. [caption id=“attachment_373209” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will make a two-day state visit to India from tomorrow. Reuters[/caption] “It is very good that we have a return visit immediately thereafter. This gives the high-level political momentum to the bilateral relationship,” Raghavan said. “We have a multi faceted relationship with Singapore. The different aspects of the relationships are trade and economic cooperation, investment, defence, cultural cooperation, education exchanges and of course a very good political relationship. “All these aspects will be reviewed during Prime Minister Lee’s visit and we expect that some high level inter-governmental agreements and understanding will also be reached,” he said. When Singh visited Singapore last year, these aspects were discussed in details with focus on investments, cooperation in the area of skill training and cultural cooperation. “I think these aspects will remain under focus. We will see some concrete outcome.” India’s cumulative investment in Singapore is $23 billion from 2000-2012, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India. Likewise, Singapore’s cumulative investment in India is $17 billion for the same 10-year period. The Indian investors include Tata Group of Companies, Hindustan Computers and Fortis among others. “Singapore is a business hub and Indian corporations will use Singapore’s connectivity with South East Asia and East Asia,” he said in comments on reports that Indian investments were increasing through Singapore into the Asian region. The Indian and Singapore economies were progressing well despite the global economic gloom, he pointed out, expecting a hefty 30-40 percent growth in the 2011-2012 bilateral trade. “The Indian and Singapore bilateral trade for 2011-2012 is expected to reach $23 billion,” said Raghavan, citing the strong growth seen since 2005-2006 when the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) effectively began boosting low-tax free trade dealings. The bilateral trade was $21.8 billion as of fiscal January 2012, up from $8.7 billion in 2005-2006. “CECA has performed very well and has been very successful, especially with the increase of footprint of Indian companies in Singapore and from Singapore to the Southeast Asian region,” Raghavan said. The bilateral trade would increase significantly when the second CECA review is completed by end of this year and open flexible terms to trade and businesses of the two economies. An estimated 4,500 Indian companies have set up offices in Singapore to manage global and regional businesses. “We recognise in India that Singapore is very important for our part of the Look East Policy,” said Raghavan. “Defence cooperation is definitely increasing especially as India is now a member of the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Plus Defence Ministerial Meeting. There is more interaction between army, navy and airforce,” he said. In May, Defence Minister AK Antony had addressed the Shangri-La Dialogue, a global strategic defence and security forum. People-to-people interaction between the two countries was also increasing, with more parliamentarians visits and cultural exchanges expected in the future, he stressed. India’s opposition leader Sushma Swaraj made an official visit to Singapore this year. “A number of Indian states are very actively seeking Singapore’s investment cooperation and technology cooperation in fields such as infrastructure development,” said Raghavan. “We have had visits by state governments of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat this year. These states are trying to use Singapore’s capacity and knowledge in the development of new cities and townships,” he pointed out. Kerala state officials would also be making a trade and investment visit to Singapore later this month. Meanwhile, Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman R Narayanamohan said: “Very close and cordial relationship is prevailing between India and Singapore and the trade and investment are growing simultaneously between the two countries.” “The Singapore Prime Minister visit will further strengthen the bilateral relationship and will increase the trade and investment between the two countries,” he said. “An increasing number of Indian companies are making their global investments through Singapore and the number of Indian businesses in the city state are increasing day by day,” he said, pointing to some 4,500 Indian entities presence in the city state. PTI