Singapore minister calls on Jayalalithaa

Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K Shanmugam today called on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and had a detailed discussion on bilateral ties and possible business ventures in the state.
The Chief Minister pointed out to the visiting Minister that despite cultural ties and frequent people to people interactions, the economic relationship between them was yet to achieve its full potential and further looked forward to more investment and expertise from Singapore to realise Tamil Nadu's goals under the 'Tamil Nadu Vision 2023' Document, an official release said.
'Tamil Nadu Vision 2023' document envisages substantial strengthening of infrastructure, including human capital, in the state by 2023, with an investment of Rs 15 lakh crore, in which 217 specific projects have been identified for implementation in Phase II.

Shanmugam mentioned that while Tamil Nadu was one of the top three destinations of Singapore's investment in India, he agreed with Chief Minister that the economic ties between Tamil Nadu and Singapore needed to be deepened and further extended an invitation to the Chief Minister to visit Singapore.
Jayalalithaa indicated that Tamil Nadu was very keen to upgrade primary health care and sought Singapore's support in this area.
She also mentioned that Tamil Nadu was a water starved state and increasing reliant on desalination for its drinking water supply needs and specifically sought Singapore's expertise in this area to set up more desalination plants in Tamil Nadu.

Jayalalithaa further requested the minister to designate senior officials, who could interact with their counterparts in government of Tamil Nadu to take forward the relationship.