‘India wants to create several Singapores’, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India wanted to create ‘several Singapores’ of its own.

During talks with his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong, the prime minister said Singapore “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,” PTI quoted Modi as saying.

Congratulating Wong, who took oath as the new Singapore prime minister in May, Modi said,”This is our first meeting since you assumed the office as prime minister. My heartiest congratulations and best wishes to you. I am confident that under the leadership of 4G, Singapore will achieve progress even more rapidly.”

‘Singapore an important facilitator of India’s Act East Policy’: Modi

Prime Minister Modi highlighted collaborative initiatives between two countries in the fields like skilling, digitalisation, mobility, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and AI, healthcare, sustainability and cybersecurity.

“Singapore is also an important facilitator of India’s Act East policy. 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 added.

“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,” the prime minister said, as per PTI.

During the Business Leaders’ Summit, Modi said,”We are going forward with predictable and progressive policies…There is political stability in India. We are moving ahead aggressively in the area of semiconductors. We are going to make a whole ecosystem in this sector…Startups are growing very fast in tier 2 & tier 3 cities in India.”