February 09, 2015

The President of Republic of Singapore H.E. Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam, accompanied by Mrs. Mary Tan, is on a State Visit to India from 8-11 February, 2015, at the invitation of the President Shri Pranab Mukherjee. His delegation included the Minister in Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Environment and Water Resources and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Ms. Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Communications and Information Mr. Lawrence Wong, Parliamentarians and senior officials. His visit highlighted the celebrations on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Singapore.

India-Singapore relationship, based on convergence of views and values and Singapore's role as our gateway to ASEAN, is robust and expanding. It encompasses strong political understanding, close defence and security cooperation, growing complementaries in economic engagement, civilisational and cultural linkages and shared interests in bilateral and multilateral fora.

H. E. President Tan was accorded a Ceremonial Welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan following which he laid a wreath at Raj Ghat.

H.E. President Tan called on President Shri Pranab Mukherjee today, who also hosted State Banquet in his honour. He met Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Smt. Sushma Swaraj. They had wide-ranging discussions on enhancement of bilateral relations and strengthening of cooperation on regional and international issues to raise our partnership to a higher level. The discussions covered new focus areas that will directly feed into our development process. These included specific initiatives to develop Smart cities and urban rejuvenation, promote Skill development, measures to Speed up connectivity and coastal and port development, strengthening linkages with the North East of India, projects to Scale up investments in the new development initiatives launched in India and enhancing exchanges with the State of India. They agreed on sharing of experiences in science & technology, space and other areas to enhance productivity and efficiency as well as broadening cooperation in fighting terrorism. The discussions reflected the spirit of mutual trust, understanding and cooperation that characterise the unique and special relations between the two countries.

H. E. President Tan will inagurate the Singapore Festival in India tomorrow, launch the commemorative book titled "Singapore and India: Towards A Shared Future”, open the Peranakan Exhibition at National Museum and host a Food Festival themed "Flavours Of Singapore”. The year long Festival of India in Singapore is currently underway, since August 2014, to showcase our culture, innovation, youth and States.

The State Visit of the President of Singapore reinforced our traditional close exchanges and further enhanced the excellent bilateral relations between our two countries.

New Delhi
9 February, 2015

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