Singapore trade minister to attend Vibrant Gujarat summit

Singapore, Jan 10: Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister S Iswaran will travel to India today to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, scheduled to start tomorrow, to boost economic ties and explore new business opportunities in India.

Iswaran, who is also the second minister for Home Affairs will start his four-day visit with a business delegation and is scheduled to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel during the 7th Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

The minster is leading a business delegation including about 70 business representatives across 40 companies from the urban solutions, construction, logistics and IT sectors to the annual summit.

This is the first time Singapore is participating as a partner country at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit to promote greater bilateral business collaboration and engagement with India.

During the summit, Iswaran will speak at the opening ceremony and visit the Singapore Pavilion, organised by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, where 20 Singapore companies will showcase capabilities in a wide range of sectors such as urban solutions, manufacturing and energy.

On January 12, the minister will travel to Hyderabad with a group of Singapore company officials and will make a call with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for a discussion on the partnership between Singapore and Andhra Pradesh in master planning and developing the latter's new capital city and surrounding region. Singapore and India share strong economic ties.

In 2013, India was Singapore's 11th largest trading partner and 12th largest export destination. Total trade between India and Singapore currently stands at over Singapore Dollars 25 billion per year. Singapore is also India's largest trade and investment partner in ASEAN, a statement of Trade and Industry Ministry said.

Iswaran will be accompanied by senior officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) and Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) during the 10-13 January visit.

PTI