Just having hosted the 18th edition of the foreign ministry’s flagship Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Odisha is all set to welcome Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam when he begins his India tour from January 14-18, just four months after PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Singapore in September.
The presidential visit marks the 60th year of the establishment of India-Singapore ties. The two countries have a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”.
There is a reason for Odisha to cheer. Having garnered considerable interest among NRIs to invest in the East Indian state given its conducive law and order and the focus on a friendly investment climate, it is now a potential destination for Singapore to set up projects and increase collaboration.
During his Odisha visit, President Shanmugaratnam will visit a Bharat Biotech vaccine manufacturing plant and the World Skills Centre that is being supported by Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education Services (ITEES).
A foreign ministry release said that the President will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers, Members of Parliament and other officials.
In New Delhi, President Shanmugaratnam will meet his counterpart President Droupadi Murmu, PM Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar.
Odisha is at the centre of the government’s ‘Purvodaya’ policy that focuses on five states in east India—Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh—for all-round development.
The ‘Purvodaya’ ('Rising East') policy was announced in the Union Budget 2024 presentation on July 23, 2024.
Singapore is India’s largest trade partner in ASEAN. It is the leading source of FDI, among the largest sources of External Commercial Borrowings and Foreign Portfolio Investment. In FY 2023-24, Singapore was the largest source of FDI into India.
About 9,000 Indian companies are registered in Singapore. Six PSUs, nine banks, and Indian industrial chambers have their offices in Singapore.
About 3.8 lakh ethnic Indians—about 9 per cent of the resident population are ethnic Indians. Singapore has the highest concentration of IIT and IIM alumni in any one city outside India. Tamil is one of the four official languages of Singapore.
