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Urbanization of India offers opportunities for Singapore companies: Modi

Xinhua, November 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

India is the next frontier of economic development and Singapore is an important and valuable friend of India, said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at India-Singapore Economic Convention on Tuesday during his two-day visit to the city state.

Speaking to business delegates from both countries at the convention, Indian PM Modi stressed that his visit to Singapore has brought strategic partnership between the two countries to new levels.

Modi said affordable homes, smart cities and new railway corridors as among the main infrastructure projects that India offer growth prospects for global investors during its process of urbanization.

International Enterprise (IE) Singapore's CEO Teo Eng Cheong also said that the policies and business landscape in India today are increasingly favorable for Singapore companies.

In fostering closer partnerships, three Memorandums of Understandings (MoUs) were signed by the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise, a subsidiary of IE Singapore. The signings were witnessed by leaders of the two countries at Istana on Tuesday, and areas of cooperation under the MoUs have spanned across in civil aviation, capacity building as well as consulting and advisory services in urban sector projects.

In the 1990s, Singapore's then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong sparked an "India Fever" in the country in response to India's economic reforms and "Look East" policy, and then bilateral trade and investment grew strongly over the past twenty years.

Nowadays, Indian PM Modi's leadership has re-invigorated interest and optimism in India's economic prospects, and prompted many countries to re-engage India.

"We are keen to scale up investment in next-generation infrastructure like digital networks and renewable energy," said Modi.

The Indian prime minister also expressed his willingness for cooperation, concluding his speech with the sentence "I'm here to invite you to India in a bigger way, and I assure you that I will be there to hold your hands."

Besides cooperation on bilateral level, Modi also mentioned that there are significant opportunities for collaboration with Singapore through multilateral economic groupings such as the ASEAN Economic Community and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

India-Singapore Economic Convention was jointly organized by IE Singapore and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran also attended the convention. Enditem