Anand Sharma to leave for Malaysia, Singapore tonight

New Delhi, July 5 (ANI): Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will undertake a four-day State visit to Malaysia and Singapore for which he leaves Monday night.

Accompanied by a high-level delegation, Sharma is scheduled to be in Malaysia from July 6 to July 8 while he will be in Singapore from July 8 to July 9.

In Malaysia, Anand Sharma is scheduled to meet the Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of Transport Datuk Sri Kong Cho, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dato' Sri Anifah Aman.

He will also call on the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul during his visit.

Besides, he will also be addressing a Business conference being organised by Malaysia-India Business Council.

India-Malaysia bilateral trade was 10.60 billion dollars in 2008-09 compared to 2.94 billion dollars in 2003-04.

The main items of India's exports to Malaysia are copper, aluminum, zink, meat products, chemicals and petroleum products, while major items of imports from Malaysia are crude petroleum, chemicals, palm oil and electronic products.

On July 8, Sharma will hold a bilateral meeting with Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang.

He will be addressing a session on India-Singapore: Enhancing Trade and Economic Cooperation and a public lecture on "Resurgence of Asia in 21st century - an Indian perspective" on July 9.

During 2008-09, India's exports to Singapore amounted to 8.45 billion dollars and India's imports from Singapore stood at 7.65 billion dollars.

The major items of India's exports to Singapore are transport equipment, gems and jewellery.

Major items of India's imports from Singapore are electronic goods and organic chemicals.

The main sectors of Singapore's FDI in India are services, petroleum and natural gas, computer software and hardware, construction and telecommunications. (ANI)