India must open up its economy, says Singapore PM

At the end of his six-day visit to India last week, Singapore's Prime Minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, shared his perceptions and impressions in a half-an-hour interview with V. Jayanth TheHindu in Chennai. His message was simple and straight - liberalise further and plug in to the global economy, let us work together for mutual benefit. Excerpts from the interview:

V. Jayanth: After five years, you have returned to India. Do you see any significant change since 1995?

Mr. Goh Chok Tong: In a sense, nothing much has changed. When I came in 1994-95, India was talking about reforms and opening up to foreign investments. After five years, I heard the same message - that India is going to liberalise its economy cautiously and embark on second generation reforms. But in fact, I am more encouraged this time because there seems to be a greater consensus among political leaders that India must go forward. If they want to go on with the second generation reforms, it must be encouraged.

You have spoken about the inevitability of globalisation and the breakdown in the WTO. How do you view the West's insistence on linking non-trade issues with the WTO process?

I believe strongly that this is counter-productive. The importance of environment, child labour, human rights and even democracy is not only for the West but also for Asia. My question to an Asian critic, was do you really think Asians want to exploit their children as child labour or they do not believe in human rights. It is only because at this stage of Asia's development, it has to take into account its own circumstances and the way to eradicate child labour and create a better environment is to have more trade. Only then you can lift the standard of emerging economies. Then, human rights and environment protection can all be included. These countries are grappling with basics - like producing food. So, I am not in favour of tying up these issues with the WTO. There is a place for discussions on environment and labour, in other organisations like the ILO.

Information technology, insurance and infrastructure are the basic strengths of Singapore. How do you see the environment in India in these sectors?

The States now have much more interest in pushing their own development. The Chief Minister has become the salesman for his State in terms of economic investments. That development is healthy. They must work out a pro-investment climate for foreign investments. There are some areas in which Singapore will be interested, like IT, we are very keen. Besides investing in India, we are keen on tapping into India to see how, together, we can sell the products in the world market. Development of some ports is something we have been asked to look at and we will get some of our people to look at some ports. I was told India is going to designate a few more international airports and Singapore has been asked whether we can invest, improve, upgrade or manage these airports.

You and your business delegation have focussed on three southern States. All the three are keen on a tie up and look at IT as the thrust area. How do you consider the potential in the States?

Each State has it own attractions. My job is to facilitate the flow of investments from Singapore. I cannot choose the States in which they must invest. Our private sector has already invested in these three States. So they wanted me to look at their projects. Tamil Nadu seems to have the largest number of investment projects from Singapore. But the attractions are different. Karnataka seems more keen on IT, Hyderabad has a wider range - IT, tourism, ports and airports. It is for the private sector to sort out what it wants to do.

You have spoken frankly about the frustration over the delays in the Bangalore airport project. Does Karnataka remain your preferred investment destination?

We already have some big projects in Karnataka. I won't really say Karnataka is a preferred destination. I don't know where the private sector will find more opportunities. Having sunk in millions of dollars in Bangalore, I would certainly like to help that project succeed. It has become a symbol of cooperation between India and Singapore. That will be a good publicity for India and Singapore's capabilities. You cannot expect any big project for some time because of the complexity of doing business in India. You need a lot of patience to get licences and approvals. There are other obstacles in infrastructure. For instance, a good port will need good roads outside, telecommunication facilities etc. You need all facilities. So people prefer to come in with small projects, which I think is the right approach.

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