Gadkari calls for enhanced ties
SINGAPORE: India offers ample investment opportunities in the infrastructure sector — ports, shipping, roads, inland waterways and the automobile sector — and international firms must tap into the growth potential offered by the ‘world’s fastest growing economy’, road transport, highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari said.
He was addressing delegates at the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas in Singapore,
He also called upon Singaporean companies and its government to invest in developing cruise tourism in India, and said the country was open towards joint ventures and public private partnerships in this space.
India is building cruise termi- nals at major ports, and has invested ₹1,000 crore in the upcoming one in Mumbai alone, he said.
Speaking on the opening panel on ‘ASEAN India Economic Partnerhip, the union minister said that India was planning to build six new port projects, and invited companies from the country to look at the business opportunities such initiatives offered.
The opportunity for collaboration between I ndia and ASEAN is enormous as both regions have strong fundamentals, from demographics or evolution their respective economies, and the needs of the popu- lation, Singapore’s trade and industry minister, S Iswaran said while speaking at the same event.
ASEAN countries have an impetus to integrate their markets, to meet aspirations of their citizens, and realize the potential of its economies, and a similar effort is being undertaken in India by PM Modi, and we are now seeing the results (of those efforts), Iswaran added.
He said both India and ASEAN countries were engaged in ambitious plans building out infrastructure, and this offered successful firms in this space to work together, and expand from their domestic markets and target the whole region.
The success of Singaporean companies in developing Amaravati is just an example of what we can do together, he added.