The visiting Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here on Monday.
The two sides had wide-ranging discussions on enhancing bilateral relations and strengthening cooperation on regional and international issues so as to raise the partnership between the two countries to a higher level, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry after the talks, the discussions covered new focus areas that will directly feed into the development process. These include specific initiatives to develop smart cities and urban rejuvenation, promoting 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 Indian state.
The Singapore President is on a state visit till February 11 and has a large delegation accompanying him that includes the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Environment and Water Resources and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Grace Fu, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Communications and Information Lawrence Wong, Parliamentarians and senior officials.
President Tan will inaugurate the Singapore Festival in India tomorrow, launch a commemorative book titled Singapore and India: Towards A Shared Future , open the Peranakan exhibition at the National Museum and host a Food Festival themed on ‘Flavours of Singapore’ during this visit. A year-long Festival of India in Singapore is underway since August 2014.