Singapore: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
arrived here on Saturday on a two-day visit as part of a two-nation
tour aimed at pushing the `Look East` policy.
Singh will hold talks with Singapore Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong on deepening economic, trade, cultural and
people-to-people relations.
Singapore is India`s largest trading partner in ASEAN,
and the second largest investor in India and was the first
country with which India signed a Comprehensive Economic
Cooperation Agreement in 2005.
Singh will also unveil a `Friend of our Shore` marker and
bust of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in Singapore.
The marker is located at the Asian Civilisations Museum,
on a green stretch along with Singapore River. It is a
historically significant area in Singapore as it was on the
banks of this river that modern Singapore began to build its
reputation.
So far, four personalities -- Polish-English writer
Joseph Conrad, Father of modern Vietnam Ho Chih Min, Filipino
revolutionary leader Jose Rizal, and former Chinese Communist
party leader Deng Xiaoping have been given this decoration.
The Prime Minister arrived here after a three-day visit
to Bali, where he attended the India-ASEAN meet and East Asia
Summit, besides holding talks with US President Barack Obama
and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao.
At the East Asia Summit today, Singh cited the Eurozone
crisis and pitched for greater economic integration between
India and East Asia to contribute to the world economy.
During his more than hour-long meeting with US president
yesterday, Singh told Obama that India had gone "some way" to
allay the concerns of US firms by notifying rules for nuclear
business and any specific grievance would be addressed within
the "four corners" of Indian laws.
His remarks came against the backdrop of apprehensions
among US firms that Indian liability laws were not supplier
friendly.
The Prime Minister held talks with Wen against the
backdrop of the South China Sea issue row and told him that
India`s oil exploration in the disputed maritime area is
"purely commercial activity".
Singh also had a `pull-aside` meeting with Australian
Prime Minister Julia Gillard who made it clear that she would
take forward her proposal to lift ban on uranium sale to
India.
PTI
