Mr S Iswaran at the India-Singapore Economic Convention 2015

SPEECH BY MR S ISWARAN, MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY (INDUSTRY), AT THE INDIA-SINGAPORE ECONOMIC CONVENTION 2015 AT MARINA BAY SANDS CONVENTION CENTRE, SINGAPORE ON 24 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2015, 5.25PM

Your Excellency, Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the Republic of India;

Mr Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor of India;

Mrs Vijay Thakur Singh, High Commissioner of India to Singapore;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon.

Opening

Let me begin by extending a warm welcome to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and his distinguished delegation to the India-Singapore Economic Convention 2015. Prime Minister, we are honoured that you have accepted our invitation to grace this event and speak to the business community notwithstanding your tight schedule in Singapore.

India–Singapore ties go back a long way

Ties between India and Singapore have a long history with many dimensions.  Indian traders and entrepreneurs were already a familiar sight in Singapore in the 1800’s and they were pioneers in the nascent insurance and banking sectors. Indian immigrants have made significant contributions to the economic growth of modern Singapore, and enriched our multi-cultural society. Many retain strong ties to their ancestral homeland and contributed greatly to the economic, political and cultural links between India and Singapore. Singapore’s Indian community is a key node in the Indian Diaspora and its many facets and achievements are today remembered and celebrated at the Indian Heritage Centre. 

India Fever in the 90s

In the 1990s, then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, with whom Prime Minister Modi is well-acquainted, sparked an “India Fever” in Singapore in response to India’s economic reforms and “Look East” policy. Over the next twenty years, bilateral trade and investment grew strongly, boosted by the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement which was signed during Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Official Visit to India in 2005.

Singapore companies have been steadily growing their presence in India.  Early entrants in the Industrial Real Estate, Finance and Telecommunications sectors, have since been joined by other companies in the consumer products, urban solutions and logistics sectors.

In turn, we have a strong contingent of more than six thousand Indian companies here who use Singapore as a springboard to address business opportunities in Asia and beyond. They range from small firms to large international corporations and are in sectors as diverse as IT, manufacturing and even Education. I believe that Singapore’s connectedness to the region through trade agreements will continue to be a useful advantage which Indian companies can continue to tap on. When the RCEP is concluded, we can also look forward to more third-party collaborations.

Consequently, over the past ten years, Singapore’s total trade with India has doubled from SGD 11.8 billion to SGD 24.6 billion, while Singapore’s investments in India have grown nearly twenty-fold from SGD 653 million to SGD 12.1 billion. This heightened economic activity has further enhanced people-to-people ties between Singapore and India. One indicator is air connectivity with more than 440 flights between India’s major metros and Tier 2 cities and Singapore, which by all accounts are generally full.     

India Today and Singapore’s Investments

Prime Minister Modi’s leadership has re-invigorated interest and optimism in India’s economic prospects, and prompted many countries to re-engage India in the priority areas. For example, in response to Prime Minister Modi’s “Smart Cities” vision, Singapore has worked with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to develop the Master Plan for a smart, liveable and sustainable new state capital, Amaravati. Similarly we recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rajasthan government to help come up with a concept plan for two townships in Jodphur and Udaipur. Our government agencies will also be working with India’s Ministry for Urban Development to share our expertise in urban planning and to help build capacity through training Indian officials in sustainable urbanisation.

The “Make in India” campaign has revived interest in India’s manufacturing sector as evident in the plans of several foreign companies to build factories in India. Those factories will need reliable and efficient logistics and utilities, two sectors in which Singapore companies are already active. Recently, Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone for PSA’s container terminal at Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port. When completed in 2017, the new terminal will enable the port to handle an additional 4.8m TEU per annum with greater efficiency. In January this year, Tata-SIA’s Vistara Airlines started domestic services operations; I had the privilege of taking the inaugural Vistara flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad to attend Vibrant Gujarat.  In the power sector, Sembcorp Utilities recently brought online its 1,320 megawatts power plant in Nellore and invested in 516 megawatts of renewable energy assets across five states in India.

These investments not only support the “Make in India” drive, but also demonstrates Singapore companies’ confidence in India.

Next 50 years – Strategic Partnership and Beyond

What are the prospects for the India-Singapore relationship in the next 50 years? This morning, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong signed a Joint Declaration on the India-Singapore Strategic Partnership. This milestone agreement elevates our bilateral relations to a new level.

On economic cooperation, India and Singapore have committed to pursue five initiatives:

First, Scaling up Trade and Investment;

Second, Speeding up air and maritime connectivity and coastal development;

Third, Smart City development and urban rejuvenation;

Fourth, Skills Development and capacity-building; and,

Fifth, State Focus to strengthen business and cultural links.

These initiatives hold much promise and require us to fundamentally re-evaluate what needs be done to realise the ambitions of our Strategic Partnership. While government leaders and officials on both sides will do their part, much will also depend on our business leaders and investors boldly seizing opportunities in India, Singapore and third country markets.   

Closing

In that regard, we are all looking forward to understanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for a rising India, and the opportunities that our two countries can jointly pursue for mutual benefit. It therefore gives me great pleasure to welcome Prime Minister Modi to Singapore and this Economic Convention, and to invite him on stage to deliver his address. 

Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, please.