Jaitley to visit Singapore to discuss investments

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is visiting Singapore to showcase a slew of investor-friendly reforms undertaken by the government and discuss ideas to ramp up investments in India.

Jaitley is leaving on Tuesday evening on a two-day official visit to Singapore.

"During the visit, Jaitley will re-enforce the close ties between India and Singapore, building upon our shared history, rooted in strong commercial, culture and people-to-people links," Finance Ministry said in a statement.

On November 15, the Finance Minister will visit the Singapore Expo and deliver the keynote address at the Singapore Fintech Festival, a global event attracting over 10,000 participants. He will also pay a visit to the India pavilion set up at the expo, showcasing India's achievements in advancing financial technology, both within and outside the government.

On November 16, Jaitley will deliver the keynote address at Morgan Stanley Sixteenth (16th) Annual Asia Pacific Summit in Singapore on the topic 'India: Structural Reforms and Growth Path Ahead'.

"As part of the Summit, Jaitley will meet the senior management of Morgan Stanley and also address a gathering of senior fund managers and key financial institutional investors," it said.

During the visit, he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam to discuss bilateral issues.

He will also discuss investment and other issues with his Singapore counterpart and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat.

An investors' roundtable is being organised by the Ministry of Finance, India and the Indian High Commission in Singapore to showcase to foreign investors a slew of investor friendly reforms undertaken by the government and also to understand their ideas and suggestions about ramping up investments in India.

The roundtable will be co-chaired by Secretary DEA Subhash Chandra Garg and Tan Ching Yee, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of Singapore.

The participants in the investors' roundtable include senior executives of leading institutional investors and business houses in Singapore, who control significant investments globally and have either existing investments in India or are contemplating such investments in the country in the near future.

During his visit starting Wednesday, Jaitley will also have meetings with CEOs of GIC, the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) of Singapore, the Chairman of Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), CEO of Singapore Airlines, Chairman of Blackstone Asia Pacific and CEO of Singapore Stock Exchange among others, it said.

He will also interact with the Chairman and Board of Directors of Temasek, a leading investment company, headquartered in Singapore.

Jaitley will return to New Delhi late in the evening of November 16.