Singapore says will facilitate India’s greater engagement with Asean

NEW DELHI: Singapore said it will facilitate India’s greater engagement with Southeast Asia and pledged to further deepen bilateral ties.

“Singapore has always been a believer in India’s role in Asia and in Asean. We have always spoken up for India, we have always encouraged India to engage us and we’ve always done our best to ensure there is a seat at the table,” Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in his presentation on ‘India, Singapore and Asean: Shared History, Common Future’ in New Delhi recently.

He said Singapore acted as a gateway for India in the region and would continue to help New Delhi in broadening its relations with Southeast Asian countries.

Balakrishnan said last year Singapore was India’s 10th largest trading partner and second biggest source of foreign direct investments (FDIs) into India.

From 2000 to 2016, Singapore’s cumulat ive investment in India stood at US$ 45.9 billion, representing 16 per cent of total FDIs received by India.

Among Singapore’s key investments, port operator PSA is spending US$ 1.3 billion in developing a container terminal in Mumbai, Ascendas has invested US$ 2 billion in information technology parks and Sembcorp has invested US$3 billion in the power sector in Andhra Pradesh.

Balakrishnan urged India to increase maritime and aviation connectivity with Southeast Asia and carry out further reforms in the air services and digital sectors. — Bernama