NEW DELHI, 11 July 2004 — India and Singapore are to sign a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) soon, the two announced yesterday.
In a joint statement issued at the end of a three-day official visit by Singapore’s Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to India, the two countries also decided to boost defense cooperation by holding joint military exercises and collaborating in defense technology research.
The joint statement also called for international cooperation and efforts to fight terrorism and deny sanctuaries to terrorist organizations.
Goh was the first high-level foreign dignitary to visit India after the installation of the new Congress party-led coalition government. He received the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding from Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Friday.
Goh held extensive delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday. The Singapore leader also met with senior leaders of the government and opposition.
“India expressed appreciation for Singapore’s very positive and constructive role in enhancing India’s interaction with ASEAN. They expressed great satisfaction at the strengthening and diversification of their bilateral relations and resolved to take them to even greater heights in a variety of areas,” the joint statementsaid.
The Singapore prime minister also launched yesterday the Singapore India Partnership — a tie-up between the Singapore government and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
The foundation would work toward strengthening economic linkages, relations between the governments, academic interaction and cultural understanding, Goh said.
The foundation would be a company incorporated in Singapore with an initial corpus of five million Singaporean dollars. Goh has contributed his $54,800 award money as seed capital for the foundation.
An equal contribution has been made by CII President Sunil Kant Munjal and two other industrialists.
The foundation would advance its objectives primarily by granting fellowships to outstanding Singapore or Indian nationals from all disciplines, Goh said.
