The Hindu : International : India will become important to us: Lee

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 29, 2005

International

International

India will become important to us: Lee

P. S. Suryanarayana

Singapore to sign economic accord with India

SINGAPORE: India "will become very important to us, even more important to us than it is already." This is how Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sees the potential for engaging India under the framework of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which he will sign with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The two countries will also sign a mutual legal assistance agreement applicable generally to the fight against "all kinds of crimes, not just terrorism." Envisaging political cooperation with India, Mr. Lee said a brighter economic outlook was possible "if we can sustain" the present upward trend in bilateral trade "for a few more years." Last year Singapore's trade with India grew faster than with China — about 50 per cent in the case of India as against nearly one-third in respect of China.

In his interview to The Hindu, Mr. Lee said, "the scope is vast" for Singapore to invest in India. Pointing out that "we don't have expertise in all areas," he identified the areas of Singapore's investment-strength as "industrial facilities, airports, even ports and less so, power plants."

In candid comments, Mr. Lee said: "In principle, I don't think we have arrived" as a developed economy. There "is never a guarantee" that a small county like Singapore had a "smooth escalator all the way up" towards becoming a fully developed economy. The reality was that a "lot of our technology is really externally generated."

Significant in this context was his offer that Singapore would be "very happy" to have Indian presence in its science and technology sectors. While some Indian presence in Singapore's defence-related S&T segment was a "possibility," he expressed interest in India's "world-class" technology and management institutes on the educational side.

While he saw the current "thaw" in the India-Pakistan dialogue as an additional positive factor that favoured New Delhi, he spoke about the rise of China and India as the major new reality of economic and strategic consequence in Asia and beyond. He hailed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his "very wise attitude" towards Beijing, especially his statement that India "has no intention of colliding with China." Noting that "China has always been a part of the picture" for security and stability in East Asia, he saw India emerging as "one of the major players".

Mr. Lee said: "The more your economy opens up... . the more will be your interests which are not oriented towards South Asia where your preoccupations had been for a long time. ... I see you playing a greater role, but I don't see you supplanting the Americans, or for that matter the Chinese supplanting the Americans [in East Asia]." Asked about speculation that he might call an early general election to secure a mandate in his own right as Singapore's relatively new Prime Minister, he said, "it is possible." Noting that a general election was not due till the middle of 2007, he said he would seek a mandate "before that, by then."

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