The Hindu Business Line : `Bilateral trade with Singapore will cross $10 b'

The Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam , and the Chief Minister, Dr Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, at the function to lay the foundation for Pacific Women and Child Hospital in Hyderabad on Friday. - A. Roy Chowdhury

Hyderabad , Oct. 29

SINGAPORE has said that its bilateral trade volumes with India are just a "tip of the iceberg."

"India is Singapore's 13th largest trading partner. In the first half of this year, the bilateral trade volumes grew by 54.3 per cent. It is set to cross $10 billion for the full year," Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, said.

Addressing a gathering at the foundation laying ceremony of Pacific Healthcare's project in India here on Friday, Dr Keng Yam said Indian companies saw Singapore as a strategic platform to grow their business.

"More than 1,400 Indian companies have set up their operations in Singapore. All the top 20 Nasscom (the National Association of Software and Services Companies) are present there. Top business houses like Tatas and Godrej, too, have a base for many years," he said.

A Chennai-based film production company made Singapore its regional headquarters to distribute its films globally.

He said demand for good healthcare was increasing globally. India, the second most populous country, with a fast growing middle-class, has tremendous potential in healthcare services.

Dr William Chong, Executive Chairman of Pacific Healthcare Holdings, said though medical advances in the last decade contained several scourges of mankind, incidence of "diseases of affluence such as heart disease, diabetes and cancers" was increasing.

The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who laid the foundation stone for the hospital and stem cell bank, asked the Singapore healthcare company to take up more such projects in the State. "We will provide infrastructural support," he said.

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