Sachin Parashar,TNN | Oct 13, 2015, 05.23AM IST
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NEW DELHI: Singapore is looking forward to signing a strategic partnership agreement with India when PM Narendra Modi visits the country next month, its foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Monday.
Balakrishnan, who took over as Singapore's new foreign minister after the recent elections, said the agreement was going to be one of the highlights of Modi's three-day visit starting November 23.
Balakrishnan was here for the India-Singapore 4th joint ministerial committee meeting which he co-chaired along with his counterpart Sushma Swaraj.
"The strategic partnership will come with deliverables and concrete outcomes with focus on urban solutions, smart cities and knowledge and skill transfer,'' said Balakrishnan after the meeting.
Talking to journalists about skill centres being developed by Singapore in Delhi and Udaipur, Balakrishnan said he noticed a new dynamism in India and that Singapore was looking to make a small but "hopefully significant'' role in areas India was focusing on.
According to Singapore, the strategic partnership agreement would comprise expansion of cooperation in five main areas: scaling up investment and trade; speeding up air and maritime connectivity; smart city development and urban rejuvenation; skills development and capacity building and state focus to strengthen business and cultural links.
"As part of the strategic partnership discussions, minister Balakrishnan updated minister Swaraj on Singapore's contributions to India in the areas of smart cities and skills development, for example, Singapore's master planning of Amravati, Andhra Pradesh's new capital city, and support of the Centre of Excellence in Tourism Training in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Both ministers agreed on the need to enhance economic cooperation, including expanding trade and investment between the two countries,'' said a statement issued by the Singapore foreign ministry.
Modi had on Sunday laid the foundation stone for a new container at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai which is being partly funded by Singapore.
Modi is actively seeking support from Singapore, which is now India's second largest source for FDI and 10th largest trading partner, in some of the areas he wants to focus on including ports, smart cities, skill development, water and waste management.
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