SINGAPORE: Deputy Prime Minister Tharman
Shanmugaratnam said Asia is growing in importance, and Singaporeans
need to understand the region and its complex connections
better.
He said the "Genius of India" offered by the
prestigious Indian Institute of Technology is welcome in this
regard.
Mr Tharman said this to IIT alumni gathered in
Singapore at the Suntec Convention Centre on Saturday.
Since 2002, IIT alumni have gathered alternately in India and the
United States, where there are about 40,000 IITians.
The number of IITians in Singapore has been growing over the years.
This growth, a result of the growing economic and strategic
importance of Asia Pacific, is one reason why the IIT alumni
decided to meet in Singapore this year.
The Indian Institute of Technology - also known as the MIT of India
- is seen as a pinnacle of its education system and helps foster
India's relationships with the world.
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said Singapore needs
to engage India more, so as to play a useful role in helping others
in the region.
"From a fairly young age, people need to understand Asia and other
parts of Asia besides their own country. This is extremely
important for Singapore. We have always had strong relationships
with the immediate regions around us. We have fairly strong
relationships with China and East Asia and we have relatively weak
linkages with India in education until the last five or six years,
when it has been growing rapidly," said Mr Tharman.
Mr Tharman said some 15 per cent of Singapore secondary schools
already have tie-ups with India, but more can be done.
Mr Tharman said Singapore could help India with urban solutions,
like clean water and the environment.
"The challenge in India, in this regard, is to develop urban
solutions that provide a standard of living that is acceptable to a
broad mass of people and can spur economic growth both in
manufacturing and services. There is a whole range of urban
solutions that cities like Singapore have had longer experience
in," he said.
Mr Tharman also spoke of Singapore's need to have a diversified
economy.
"We are a city as well a country, you need the diversity of
economic options, work options for your population both in order to
maximise their strengths and their natural talents and abilities...
You can't depend purely on services... For us it is part and parcel
of our economic thinking - preserving manufacturing and moving it
upstream," he said.
The PanIIT Summit is the first to be held outside India and the US,
and many see it as a way to further promote and deepen
Singapore-India ties.
- CNA/cc