Seeking ideas from Indians based here for his community event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said his visit to the city state will focus on cooperation in areas like ports, urbanisation and skill development.
Modi will be visiting Singapore on November 23-24, during which he would address an Indian community event on the second day. His other engagements include meetings with top leaders of Singapore as also with the business community members.
In a personalised mail sent to those registered for the community event, Modi asked them to give inputs for the programme including through a specially created mobile app.
"I will personally meet some of you who share their inputs," he said.
Modi further said, "This visit comes at a special moment when we mark 50 years of strong India-Singapore relations. The importance India attaches to ties with Singapore is immense. Singapore is a leading investor in India and several Indian companies are expanding their operations to Singapore.
"Singapore's success is indeed noteworthy. Their achievements in urban development, urban transport, waste management, development of ports and skill development are well known. My visit to Singapore will focus on these key areas of India-Singapore cooperation."
India expects to conclude a 'strategic partnership' with Singapore during the visit, while the two countries are also expected to sign an enhanced defence cooperation pact, along with other MoUs, including on cyber security, culture and training on urban management.
Singapore has approximately 3,50,000-strong Indian diaspora out of its total population of 5.5 million.
The bilateral trade with Singapore is about USD 17 billion and Singaporean companies are very active in India since early 1990s, including in equity markets.
Singapore is the second-largest source of FDI into India at about USD 35.9 billion (total for April 2000 to June 2015), which is about 13.9 per cent of total FDI into the country.
The Indian investments into Singapore are also fairly large at USD 37 billion.
Singapore has a strategic location with status as a financial, aviation and maritime hub. The flow of investments, presence of a large Indian diaspora and its expertise in urban and skill development make it very important for India.
The Prime Minister will deliver the prestigious Singapore Lecture soon after his arrival tomorrow evening from Malaysia.
On Tuesday morning, Modi will have a breakfast meeting with Singaporean businessmen and will later meet Prime Minister of Singapore and other top leaders.
Modi will also lay a wreath at INA (Indian National Army) Monument here and also visit the Institute of Technical Education College, which is involved in skills development.
On his second day, Modi will also address India-Singapore Economic Convention while there will be meetings with select Singapore CEOs as well.
Later in the evening, he will address the Indian community before leaving for India.
