Heavyweight Ministers to lead brainstorming sessions
Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Teo Chee Hean, will join Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in leading a high-power ministerial and business leaders’ gathering for the first ever Asean-India conference in January 2018.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari as well as Andhra Pradesh and Assam Chief Ministers, Chandrababu Naidu, and Sarbananda Sonowal, will also be attending the ASEAN-India Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) gathering on 6-7 January 2018.
Singapore’s Trade and Industry Minister S. Iswaran and Foreign Minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan will also addressed over 2,500 delegates expected at the PBD which commemorates 25 years of ASEAN-India Partnership, ahead of the Commemorative Summit on January 25-26 in New Delhi.
The India-Singapore/ASEAN Entrepreneurship Bridge (InSpreneur) will be held on 5–6 January, on the second day, co-terminus with PBD, said the Indian High Commission in Singapore.
The event will focus on startups, fintech, cyber security, disruptive technologies in manufacturing and India Stack.
In addition to panel discussions, startups will have an opportunity to pitch to investors and interact with other start-ups in curated “speed dating” sessions.
The event will culminate in the launch of the India-Singapore/ASEAN Start up Portal.
Around 600 invited delegates, including 300 curated start-ups, with around 120 from India, are to participate in the event.
Over 60 investors have listed themselves for the investor pitching session and 100 start ups have signed up for speed dating sessions.
In addition, 35 startups will set up booths in the Startup Exhibition from January 5 to 7.
Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, as well as India’s DIPP, Invest India, CII, FICCI and NASSCOM are supporting the event.
“We have also drawn upon the excellent pool of Indian professional and institutional associations, including IIM Alumni Association, IIT Alumni Association and TiE,” said High Commissioner Jawed Ashraf.
“We expect Indian Startups to tap into Singapore’s investor community, develop links with them and also expand into the ASEAN market.
“Equally, the other objective is to support our efforts to promote India as a global destination for Startups and fintech companies, and attract Singapore’s excellent start up community to India,” he said.
The event is intended to promote India’s successful model of UID-enabled governance, public services, financial inclusion and payment systems in Southeast Asia/ASEAN region.
Fintech is emerging as an exciting new area of collaboration – both at regulatory and promotional levels. The launch of the India-Singapore Startup Portal, anchored in Startup India, will become a channel for pursuing these objectives on a sustained basis.
The PBD theme, “Ancient Route, New Journey: Diaspora in the Dynamic ASEAN-India Partnership”, aims to highlight the ancient human, maritime, cultural, commercial and religious links between India and Southeast Asia; and, promote greater economic, cultural and diplomatic cooperation between India and Southeast Asian nations as well as ASEAN.
The event will also showcase Indian Diaspora’s talent and achievements and deepen their – especially the youth’s – emotional and economic links with India.
The Convention has evolved into one of the biggest business meets on India and ASEAN in Singapore with a full day of sessions on ASEAN-India Economic Partnership; India and ASEAN in the Digital World, Infrastructure, Financial Partnership, expanding trade and services, Make in India, legal framework of doing business in India and ASEAN, Science & Technology, and Tourism and Connectivity.
Over 40 Indian business heads from CII and FICCI will join business leaders from ASEAN in the event.
ASEAN-India Business Council, Singapore India Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Institute of South Asian Studies, Singapore Tourism Board are among the institutional partners for the event.
Other sessions at PBD will cover areas such as India-ASEAN partnership in the new world order and in the digital world, diaspora history, social impact contribution in India, culture, youth, education, and Ease of Being Overseas Indian in India and ASEAN.
In all, the 16 thematic sessions and various events will feature well over 100 speakers and panelists from India, Singapore and ASEAN region.
In addition, the agenda includes full days of Writer’s Festival, Cinema Festival, Art Exhibition, Photo Exhibition on two millennia of India -Southeast Asian links, yoga, and ayurveda conference – all showcasing ASEAN Indian talent.
There will be a Crafts Centre, with three crafts persons from India giving live demonstration of their work, said Jawed Ashraf. fii-news.com
