India to sign IPR pact with Singapore

New Delhi: A Bilateral Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Cooperation between the Intellectual Property Offices of India and Singapore would be signed shortly, with both countries identifying science and technology and media and entertainment as areas for promoting bilateral trade and investment, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said.

In his bilateral meeting with Mr Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore, Mr Nath, also said that considerable progress was made during the last meeting in Bali on the free trade agreement talks between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

He said, “I am now hopeful that we would be able to achieve our target of announcing the conclusion of negotiations at the AEM-India Consultations in August”.

During the interaction, Mr Nath said that Singapore was India’s fifth largest merchandise trading partner and fourth largest merchandise export market and added that India’s exports to Singapore grew by 16 per cent in 2007-08 compared with a growth of 42 per cent in the imports from Singapore.

He further stated that Singapore ranks fourth in terms of foreign direct investment in India during the period 1991-2008 with investments of $4.7 billion.

The total bilateral trade during 2006-07 was $11.49 billion and has increased by 25.88 per cent to $13.42 billion in 2007-08 (up to February 2008) over the same period in 2006-07. He said that both the countries were targeting a bilateral trade of $25-$26 billion by 2012.

Later talking to reporters, Mr Nath said, “We are looking at Singapore as a base for raising funds for various infrastructure projects. We may set up an infrastructure fund in Singapore through a special purpose vehicle”.

Stating that controlling inflation was on top of the agenda of the Indian government, Mr Nath maintained that “we have no intention to calibrate rupee for purposes of fighting inflation. Our exchange rate is transparent and credible”. He also voiced concern over rising crude prices as the fallout in the form of rising trade deficit was a matter of serious concern.

Major items of Indian exports to Singapore were petroleum (crude & products), other commodities, transport equipments, electronic goods and non-ferrous metals. Major items of Indian imports from Singapore were electronic goods, petroleum (crude & products), organic chemicals, machinery (except electrical & electronic), and project goods.

The top five sectors attracting FDI inflows from Singapore are petroleum & natural gas, mining, services sector, construction activities and power, whereas the top five sectors attracting technology transfer are electrical equipments (including computer software and electronics), hotel and tourism, food processing industry, chemicals (other than fertilizers) and miscellaneous mechanical and engineering industries.