Singapore’s Foreign Minister Sim En on Thursday said Singapore and the Southeast Asian region should maintain close ties with India and China given their important roles in regional growth and development. The foreign minister underlined the importance of China and India as economic powerhouses and key players on the global stage. Sim En made the remarks at the opening session of the workshop ‘China and India: Two Major Powers Shaping the Global Economy’, organised by the East Asian Institute (EAI) and the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
In the workshop, experts shared their views and opinions about both the countries and said that China and India, the world’s first and third largest economies on the basis of purchasing power parity respectively, have a huge influence on the global level. 35 percent of the world’s population lives in both the countries and it is estimated that their contribution to global economic growth will be 50 percent in 2024. EAI Director Alfred Schipke said that China and India stand as important pillars in the global economic scenario. ISAS Director Iqbal Singh Sevia said that both India and China are important for the future of digitalization and the transition to a green economy.