The State Government will send a team to Singapore to study its success story as financial city, said Gayatri Sriram, Chairperson, CII Chennai zone on Monday.
Delivering the welcome address at a luncheon session on "Tamil Nadu business know-how and opportunities in Singapore", organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), she said that the State was in the process of setting up Finance City near Chennai and Aero Park in Madurai and they had approached the Singapore Government for help in this regard.
"The Financial City should be granted SEZ status for companies to come and invest in it. The CII will act as a catalyst. On Tuesday, the CII members will discuss this issue with Singapore Consul-General in Chennai, Ajit Singh," she said.
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Leading a 10-member business delegation to Chennai and Coimbatore, Oeji Ek Siang, Deputy Director (South Asia), Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore urged the Indian businessmen to use Singapore as ‘Living Lab’ to strengthen the existing trade ties for mutual benefit.
"Come to our country, our R&D centres are ready to help you. Test your products, get feedback and find solution. Package and sell it to the rest of the world. If you are looking at urban solution such as urban mobility, infocomm and security, environment, urban planning, healthcare, electricity and water, then Singapore is the right place," he said.
Mr. Siang said their economic growth was constrained by the recession and hence they were focusing their attention on India that appears to be in comfortable position. "Though, we are comfortable doing business with China, we are shifting our focus towards India, Central Asia and South America. We are also exploring Southern India," he added.
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In his special address, Mr. Ajit Singh said that they were bullish on India’s growth prospects with respect to trade and investment.
"India is undoubtedly on a growth trajectory. We would like India to be our partner in our growth story. There are abundant opportunities for the private sector. We are developing our capabilities in R&D areas such as biomedical, water technology and interactive and digital media," he said.
The CII past president, C. Kumar, said that Singapore has been one of India’s best ambassadors in the global meet of nations.
"We have to make use of Singapore’s expertise in the field of infrastructure for urban development. Skills development is another key area where our corporate sector could partner with Singapore institutions to train a huge pool of unskilled workforce," he added.
The business delegates arrived in Chennai on Sunday and would explore trade and investment opportunities in Tamil Nadu till September 4.