PM Lee meets Indian counterpart to deepen ties 

NEW DELHI: Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is in New Delhi on a state visit to further strengthen the excellent bilateral ties between Singapore and India.

His Indian counterpart, Dr Manmohan Singh, was on hand to receive him at the Presidential Palace. Due to morning showers, the welcome ceremony was moved indoors to the Darbar Hall.

The national anthems of both Singapore and India were played before the two prime ministers introduced their delegations of ministers and officials.

Besides meeting India’s top leaders, Prime Minister Lee will also have the opportunity to interact with the captains of industry at a business summit later in the day.

A cornerstone of ties between Singapore and India is the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which was signed between the two countries in 2005. Since then, trade between Singapore and India has increased threefold.

Cooperation will now be extended to another area — vocational education and skills training — and a government-to-government MOU will be signed late Wednesday.

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