OM BIRLA HOPES SINGAPORE’S ‘WORK PASS FRAMEWORK’ WILL NOT ADVERSELY EFFECT INDIANS
BY ANDALIB AKHTER
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla who is leading Indian Parliamentary Delegation to Singapore, today said that India’s rapidly growing economy, skilled and affordable manpower and dynamic market system could provide new opportunities for prosperity and growth for Singaporean companies.
He said that discussions were taking place between the two countries to further strengthen the economic ties in the changing world scenario.
Saying that Singapore has a large number of Indian nationals, Birla hoped that there would be no adverse policy changes for Indians in Singapore’s Work Pass Framework.
Lok Sabha Speaker held a bilateral meeting with Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore on the fifth day of their South East Asia tour, today.
Birla told Mr. Chuan-Jin that both India and Singapore believe in democratic governance and regular dialogues between the parliamentarians of democratic countries are helpful in strengthening democracy and effective functioning of democratic institutions.
Referring to the previous visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Singapore, Birla said that after that visit Fintech was identified as an important area of cooperation. Digital connectivity has grown tremendously since then. He stressed that we should take advantage of the new opportunities in this area. Birla also suggested that the integration of monetary and payment systems between the two countries would facilitate working especially for citizens and companies.
Birla appreciated the positive role played by Singapore in promoting ASEAN-India relations and expressed the view that the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership has been given a boost during Singapore’s Presidency since 2018. He also said that India looks forward to working more closely with Singapore during Singapore’s coordinating role in the ASEAN-India dialogue relationship.
Earlier, the Indian Parliamentary Delegation visited the Indian National Army (INA) Memorial of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and paid floral tributes.
The delegation included Ravneet Singh, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); Ms. Saroj Pandey, MP (Rajya Sabha); Smt. Locket Chatterjee, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); Mrs. Sarmistha Sethi, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); Dr. Santanu Sen, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and Utpal Kumar Singh, General Secretary, Lok Sabha.