Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Singapore has once again drawn the attention of Indian Establishment to a region which has been a prime driver of economic growth in Asia but highly critical to insure peace and stability in South China sea against the backdrop of an increasingly powerful China . While economics has remained the centre stage for Indo-South East Asian cooperation, New Delhi must see the bigger picture while dealing with SE Asian nations. India since the launch of ‘Look East policy’ by IK Gujral has done little to make her partnership SE Asian powerhouse like Singapore meaningful.
Singapore should take advantage of policy driven governance, and a liberalized FDI regime in India through their expertise in Infrastructure, transportation Urban planning and financial sector capital mobilization. The FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) from Singapore will undoubtedly support the ever increasing public investment in Infrastructure to spur consumer demand and create positive conditions for the India Inc to invest more in the country.
It will bring with itself world’s best practices and access to advanced technology in areas where India severely lacks. It will help India increase her technological capabilities & induce greater competition to provide the Indian people with better services. Indian market provides opportunity to Singapore to boost their flagging growth rates in a world economy which is showing little chance of an economic revival.
Declaring at the 37th Singapore Lecture “India and Singapore have been together at many crossroads of time,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘s address traced how the two nations have come a long way since diplomatic ties were established almost five decades ago. Modi’s address highlighted how Singapore has played a key role India’s growth & reform story. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘s visit to Singapore the bilateral relationship, that started with Singapore’s independence 50 years ago, has now been upgraded to a strategic partnership. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘s leadership, India has sought to draw lessons from the Singapore success story. As Modi pointed out in the he delivered on Monday, Singapore is not only India’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia but also its “biggest source and destination” for investment, and an important partner in newer projects like smart cities, skill India, digital India, renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure.
The other pacts signed by the two nations included an agreement between the two countries on enhanced defence cooperation, which provides for defence ministers’ dialogue, joint exercises between armed forces, cooperation between defence industries to identify areas of co-production and co-development.
The two sides also signed agreements on various issues: the extension of loan of artifacts to the Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore, greater cooperation in the field of cyber security, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) also signed a MOU to increase cooperation between the two agencies, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) on cooperation in the field of planning: the MOU promotes greater cooperation between the 2 countries in the areas of Urban planning, waste water management, Sold waste management. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) of India and the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) of Singapore also signed a MoU on cooperation to combat illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substance and their precursors.
MoU between the Town and Country Planning Organisation of India and the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise in Capacity Building in urban planning and governance provides for wider engagement between the two nations. More such agreements were signed in the areas of museums, archives, monuments, library and exchange of technical experts, student exchanges & naval cooperation.
With almost 65% of 1.27 billion Indians aged between 18 and 35, Indian government needs to provide all these people with necessary skills if it wants Modi’s Make in India program to succeed. No other country in SE Asia is better positioned than Singapore to realise this dream. Modi government’s key schemes in the field of Urban development: Smart Cities, AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) and Housing for All. Can greatly benefit from Singapore’s expertise in urban planning. Singapore also wants India to speed up the Negotiations for RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) which is said to be a soft trade pact. Hence it is anticipated to have flexibility according to the particular needs of each member. In this regard, the pack is like the ASEAN Way, incremental, and consensus-based development. In the long run, this approach is better for compatibility among member nations, and focusing on mutual strengths and win-win solutions, rather than exploiting the weaknesses of each other.
