India wants to create several Singapores: PM

Singapore: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday touted Singapore as a model for developing nations and said India wanted to create "several Singapores" of its own. During his talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Modi expressed confidence in the city-state's fourth generation leadership. He said Singapore is not merely a partner country, it serves as an inspiration for every developing nation. “We also aim to create several Singapores within India. I am pleased that we are collaborating towards this goal. The ministerial roundtable we have established is a path-breaking mechanism,” the prime minister said.

Modi flew to Singapore on Wednesday after wrapping his visit to Brunei, the first bilateral visit there by an Indian prime minister. “Collaborative initiatives have been identified in areas such as skilling, digitalisation, mobility, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and AI, healthcare, sustainability and cybersecurity,” said the prime minister, who is on a two-day visit to the Asian financial centre with the global business network. 

Singapore is also an important facilitator of India's Act East policy, Modi said. “Our shared belief in democratic values connects us. I am delighted to have the opportunity to visit Singapore at the beginning of my third term,” he said. Underlining the strategic partnership between India and Singapore, Prime Minister Modi said, “Over the past 10 years, our trade has more than doubled. Mutual investment has increased almost threefold to cross USD 150 billion. Singapore was the first country with which we launched the UPI Person-to-Person payment facility."

Elaborating on the developments in the bilateral cooperation between the two countries, he said in the past 10 years, 17 satellites of Singapore have been launched from Indian soil. The cooperation has gained momentum from skilling to the defence sector. The agreement between Singapore Airlines and Air India has strengthened connectivity.