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  01 MAIN
   
   
  02 NEWSMAKER
   
   
  03 INVESTMENT UPDATES
   
   
  04 TRADE AND ECONOMY
   
   
  05 POLICY
   
   
  06 FEATURE
   
   
  07 TRAVEL
   
   
  08 CALENDAR
   

   
  HIGHLIGHTS
   
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01. MAIN

His Excellency Mr. S.M. Krishna, Hon’ble External Affairs Minister of India, paid an official visit to Russia from 16 – 18 November 2011 to participate in the 17th Session of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Technological, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation, 2011 (IRIGC-TEC). He is accompanied by senior government officials from various Ministries.

2. H.E. Mr. S.M. Krishna co-chaired the 17th session of IRIGC-TEC along with H.E. Mr. Sergei Ivanov, Deputy Prime Minister of Russian Federation on 18 November 2011. In their opening statements, both the Ministers lauded that the Commission had acted as an important catalyst for deepening bilateral economic partnership. Both the dignitaries signed the official Protocol, representing the mutual cooperation in the spheres of trade, economy, science & technology and culture. The IRIGC-TEC had been constituted to consider questions arising in the course of implementation of the agreements signed between the two Governments and to further enhance the level of bilateral cooperation. It integrates inputs from five working groups on economic and trade cooperation, energy, tourism and culture, science and technology, and IT.

3. The Protocol noted the progress in cooperation in diverse areas including energy, information technologies and telecommunications, metallurgy, automobile industry, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, banking and financial services, construction of roads and underground metro, science & technology, tourism etc. Both sides emphasized that there was a significant potential for cooperation in such areas as the mining industry, railways and water transport, aviation and shipbuilding, bio and nano-technologies, manufacture of fertilizers and chemical production, agricultural and food items, textiles etc.

4. Both the Sides agreed on four important vectors to galvanize the bilateral trade and for fructifying cooperation. These have been identified as the formation of the Joint Study Group to examine the possibility of establishing a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with the Customs Union; enhancing connectivity through the International North-South Corridor Project; Joint Public-Private Investment Fund for investments in both countries; and promotion of economic cooperation between various regions of the two countries.

5. Special emphasis was given to the formation of Joint Working Group on Modernization reflecting the objectives of modernization programme launched by President Dmitry Medvedev. This would be an important measure to develop the bilateral business and investment climate.
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Visit of the Prime Minister to Singapore
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh accompanied by Smt. Gursharan Kaur paid an official visit to Singapore on 19-20 November, 2011. He paid a courtesy call on President of Singapore Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam and also held talks with his counterpart, Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Lee Hsien Loong.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Mrs. Lee Hsien Loong hosted a lunch in honour of Prime Minister and Smt. Gursharan Kaur and the accompanying delegation. During his stay in Singapore, Prime Minister also met with former Prime Ministers of Singapore Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

Prime Minister had wide ranging discussions with his counterpart covering international, regional and bilateral issues. The Prime Minister emphasised that Singapore is an important pillar of India's Look East Policy and the two countries shared a close understanding in regional and multilateral fora. Both leaders affirmed the strong bilateral ties between India and Singapore and agreed that there had been a remarkable deepening of bilateral relationship since the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement in 2005. They discussed ways to further strengthen cooperation in fields such as Trade, Investment, Skills Development, Education, Infrastructure and Township Development. They took note of the ongoing second CECA review and underlined the need for it to be purposeful and covering all aspects of trade, investment and services. Prior to the visit the Governments of India and Singapore signed a MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Personnel Management and Public Administration and an Executive Programme on Cooperation in the Fields of Arts, Heritage, Archives and Library. The Parliaments of India and Singapore have also agreed to establish respective Parliamentary Friendship Groups.

Both Prime Ministers took note of the strong intergovernmental links between India and Singapore and continued regular high level institutional exchanges such as the Foreign Office Consultations, Ministerial Meetings, the Defence Policy Dialogue and the Security Round Table. Prime Minister extended an invitation to the Prime Minister of Singapore to pay a bilateral visit to India and also said that we looked forward to Singapore's participation in the India-ASEAN Summit in India in December- 2012 to commemorate 20 years of our partnership with ASEAN and in the series of activities India is planning in the run up to the Summit.

During his stay in Singapore the Prime Minister and Emeritus Senior Minister Mr. Goh Chok Tong unveiled a Marker and Bust of Jawaharlal Nehru at the Asian Civilisation Museum Greens.
 
 
 
 
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