PM MODI INVITES SINGAPORE FIRMS TO INVEST IN NAVRATNA PSUS

PM MODI INVITES SINGAPORE FIRMS TO INVEST IN NAVRATNA PSUS

The indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited investors here to participate in the proposed divestment of navratna PSUs and sought the singaporean government's help in bulding atleast 20 smart cities.

In wide-ranging discussions with Singapore leaders, including its Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Tony Tan Keng, Modi stressed on the idea to 'create many Singapores' within India and also pitched for issuance of rupee bonds and infrastructure bonds in Singapore.

 Besides, Modi sought faster completion of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to create a new economic block within Asia. He also invited Singaporean counterpart to visit India specially his home town Gujarat to see his family with the Asiatic lion, which is the symbol of Singapore.

Singapore sought doubling of flights to India while Modi wanted the city-state to play a key role in upgradation of railway stations in India.

At the media briefing about Modi's meetings here, Secretary (East) at the Ministry of External Affairs Anil Wadhwa said there were broadly 14-15 key issues including skills development, urban development, tourism, civil aviation and financial services, that were discussed in the meetings the Prime Minister has had here.

He also said that the disnvestments of navratna PSUs was also discussed and he PM invited Singapore company to take part in the disinvestment of these companies.

Wadhwa further said: "The talks covered a wide range of areas including defence and services, culture, economic cooperation and financial services. Singapore also returned a statue of Uma Parmeshwari, which belonged to India."

India is looking at selling stakes in Public Sector Undertakings to raise around Rs 70,000 crore in the current fiscal. PSUs are classified into three categories - Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna - mainly based on financial criteria to give them greater operational autonomy.

According to wadhwa, Prime Minister said that if 'Make in India' is to succeed then skills upgradation is very important. "Prime Minister also said that Singapore can contribute a lot in urban development in India. The government has announced plans to build 100 smart cities and Singapore can work on building at least 20 of them," he said.

At the briefing, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the Prime Minister was asked last night by his Singaporean counterpart to come for an 'impromptu dinner' to a restaurant in Little India and to see the Diwali lights in that area.

Wadhwa said the restaurant is frequented by the common man and Singapore PM said he had visited that restaurant 30 years ago and still remembered that.he also said that the Singapore Pm enjoyed dineer with our prime minister and they both enjoyed the spicy south Indian meal.

He added that the two leaders discussed the emergence of social media in the context of selfie tha was clicked in the restaurant.

According to Wadhwa, the two leaders talked about Amaravathi, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh being built with help from Singapore.

"Modi said that the UP government has proposed to build a new holy city in the state and Singapore can explore working with UP government on that project. He also talked about creating many Singapores in India," he said.

On financial services, they discussed how the banks from the two countries can work with each other. The issuance of rupee bonds in Singapore as well as the possibility of infrastructure bonds were discussed. Joint production in defence sector was also deliberated upon.

"Modi said India will soon come out with its new aviation policy where a lot many issues would be covered including for increasing the connectivity including to the Buddhist circuit," Wadhwa said.

Another focus area was civil aviation and Singapore Prime Minister asked whether the sector can be further opened up, given Singapore being an advocate of open sky policy.

Doubling of the flights from Singapore to India was also discussed.

 When RCEP negotiations came up for discussions, Modi said India was keen for an early conclusion to create a new block in the Asian region. Railways also came up for discussions and Modi said at least 500 rail stations are to be upgraded in public-private partnership and Singapore can certainly play a key role there.

Separately on a question about the prevailing issues in Maldives, Swarup said: "Importance of political pluralism has been part of India-Maldives ties" and the foreign ministers of the two countries have discussed various issues in their recent meetings.

Signalling the focus on technical education, Modi also visited Institute of Technical Education (ITE), which is located in the parliamentary constituency of the Singapore Prime Minister.