The Hindu Business Line : Pravasi Bharatiya Divas kicks off in Singapore

Singapore, Oct. 9 The first mini Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Asia began in Singapore on Thursday with an impressive participation of over 400 delegates from Singapore, West Asia, US, Australia and South East Asia.

Addressing the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Prof S. Jayakumar, said the hosting of this event in Singapore was a celebration of the “excellent bilateral relations between India and Singapore”.

He said 9 per cent of Singaporeans are Indians and the nation recognises the fact that “Indians have contributed significantly to the socio-economic progress of this country.”

He added that the significance Singapore attaches to this event can be gauged from the fact that the “President (Mr S. R. Nathan), Prime Minister (Mr Lee Hsien Loong), Minister Mentor (Mr Lee Kuan Yew) of Singapore and Senior Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong, will all be addressing the sessions to be held over the next two days.

NRI University

Addressing the meeting, the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Mr Vayalar Ravi, said as a result of a request from NRIs, an “NRI University will be set up in Bangalore within the next two years by the Manipal University where 50 per cent of seats will be reserved for the children of NRIs.”

Paying a tribute to the 30 million strong Indian diaspora, he said most of these Indians “have contributed politically, socially and of course financially” to the countries they had settled in.

Mr S. Iswaran, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore, noted that there were over 3,000 Indian companies in Singapore which had used it as their “springboard to the entire world.” The Indian High Commissioner to Singapore, Dr S. Jaishankar, said the PBD was “a celebration of India’s globalisation and proved that India’s ideas and energy have had a global impact.”

Welcoming the gathering, the CII Chief Mentor, Mr Tarun Das, said PBD-Singapore was meant to connect the Indian diaspora in Singapore and the rest of South-east Asia with India. Mr Vijay Iyengar, Chairman of the Singapore India Chamber of Commerce and Industry, one of the organisers of the event, proposed the vote of thanks.

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