Prime Minister visted Singapore on the invitation of Singapore Prime Minister Mr. Lee Hsien Loong to deliver the keynote address at the Shangri La Dialogue. It was Prime Minister’s third visit to Singapore.
In the meeting with the Prime Minister as well as with the President both leaders conveyed their deep appreciation to Prime Minister for accepting invitation to deliver the keynote address at the Shangri La Dialogue. There was talk of review of the air services agreement that India have with Singapore. There was also talk of collaboration between India and Singapore in start-up sector, technology and innovation and in that context Prime Minister offered that they could as two governments sit together and organize a Hackathon, pose question to young start-ups, young innovators, young entrepreneurs and let them come out with solutions that are affordable, that are cheap, that are of relevance. This particular suggest of hosting a Hackathon jointly between India and Singapore was warmly welcomed by Prime Minister Lee, he said that it was a very good idea and we will certainly work towards organizing such Hackathon.
Prime Minister Shri Modi informed Prime Minister Lee about his proposal to formulate a data policy of India in which India would certainly have discussions and interactions using Singapore’s experience to be factored in when we formulate our own data policy.
There were eight government to government level MoUs that were signed in the areas focusing on skill development, defence, on nursing, I have just got the list here, which is already available on our website.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi also addressed the indian diaspora. Addressing the Indian diaspora he talked about how uniquely placed they are as sincere citizens of this country to also be great ambassadors of heritage of India in Singapore.
Prime Minister held roundtable discussion with 30 senior most and most prominent CEOs from Singapore. In free and frank discussion Prime Minister highlighted the reforms that had been undertaken, he talked about GST and also talked about the fact that India’s ranking improved by 42 places in the world in terms of ease of doing business.
PM launches three Indian digital payment apps
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on May 31 launched three Indian mobile payment apps in Singapore at a business event aimed at internationalisation of the country’s digital payment platform. At the ‘Business, Innovation and Community Event’ here where digital platform was the main feature, PM Shri Modi launched India’s BHIM, RuPay and SBI app.
India’s RuPay digital payments system was linked up with Singapore’s 33-year old Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS). RuPay users will be able to make payments at all of NETS acceptance points across Singapore. Also, a new app-based rupee remittance mode of the SBI’s Singapore branch was launched at the event. Remittance of up to Rupees 100,000 will be made quick, easy and convenient with the help of Virtual Payment Address (VPA).