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09-12-2013, 02:20 PM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
Indian fever’ architect ESM Goh meets PM Singh in Indiahttp://images.dmca.com/Badges/dmca_protected_sml_120n.png?ID=f11d7371-0ef1-483b-888a-04e8d2ba2e94 http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostDateIcon.png December 4th, 2013 | http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostAuthorIcon.png Author: Editorial (http://www.tremeritus.com/author/editorial/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Capture2-300x156.jpg (Photo MFA)
ESM Goh Chok Tong, who is on a visit to India from December 3 to 6, called on Indian PM Manmohan Singh in New Delhi today (4 Dec).
Both ESM Goh and PM Singh reaffirmed the excellent relations between Singapore and India.
They also noted that Singapore and India will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations in 2015, and looked forward to the reciprocal state visits by the presidents of both countries that year.
PM Singh also conveyed his regards to PM Lee Hsien Loong and former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
Mr Goh and PM Singh also had a good discussion on the global economic situation and geopolitical developments in East Asia and South Asia.
The good relationship between Singapore and India has its roots in the 1990s when Mr Goh was then the PM of Singapore. He initiated “mild India fever” with the aim of establishing deeper ties with India.
Following the warming of ties, the idea of formulating the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), essentially a free-trade agreement, between India and Singapore came up in a meeting between then PM Goh and then India PM Vajpayee in Singapore on 8 April 2002.
Later, a Declaration of Intent to establish CECA was signed on 8 April 2003 by George Yeo, then Minister for Trade and Industry with his counterpart. On 27 May 2003, negotiations for CECA between India and Singapore were launched in New Delhi.
After 13 rounds of negotiations, the India-Singapore CECA was successfully concluded and signed on 29 June 2005, during PM Lee Hsien Loong’s state visit to India. This landmark agreement is India’s first ever CECA and Singapore’s first comprehensive bilateral economic agreement with a South Asia economy.
One aspect of CECA is that Singapore must give more access for Indian professionals to work in Singapore.
Since last year, when Singapore started to make a number of changes to the criteria that qualified foreigners for a work pass, India got increasingly unhappy with Singapore as the changes to Singapore’s labour law did not give India the preferential treatment accorded by CECA.
Things came to a head this year when the Indian government cried foul over Singapore’s attempts to impose restrictions on the entry of foreign workers, which affected Indian nationals already working or seeking to work in Singapore [Link (http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/govt-decries-ceca-violation-by-singapore-113021700123_1.html)].
According to Indian officials, this was a violation of the services trade agreement under CECA. The Indian officials said that the restrictions would adversely affect Indian nationals, especially middle level workers.
The Indian media reported, “Those of you planning to make it big in Singapore might be in for a setback. Singapore recently made certain changes to its Employment Pass Framework law to reduce inflow of foreign workers significantly to create more job opportunities for local professionals. The move is expected to impact even those Indians working there at present across various sectors.”
“This stance by the Singapore Government is expected to affect Indians working as middle-level managers, executives and technicians.”
Speculation is rife that India might take up the issue with World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement body.
However, a senior Singapore government official told the Indian media, “We have not imposed quotas as such for any country. Of course, the end result is still a reduction of the current foreign workforce numbers. But in doing so, I do not think we have contravened our commitments in the WTO or the CECA. Moreover, this is not specifically targeted to any one country. We remain very open to foreign talent.”
Currently, there are about 200,000 Indian nationals in Singapore, working in IT, finance, scientific research and other sectors – including laundry services where an Indian “foreign talent” was caught this year using a fake university degree to obtain an S-Pass to work as an assistant manager illegally, reportedly drawing a salary of $2,000 per month (‘Indian FT uses fake BA degree to work as assistant manager (http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/02/14/indian-ft-uses-fake-ba-degree-to-work-as-assistant-manager/)‘).
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?169940-Indian-fever’-architect-ESM-Goh-meets-PM-Singh-in-India&goto=newpost).
Indian fever’ architect ESM Goh meets PM Singh in Indiahttp://images.dmca.com/Badges/dmca_protected_sml_120n.png?ID=f11d7371-0ef1-483b-888a-04e8d2ba2e94 http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostDateIcon.png December 4th, 2013 | http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/themes/WP_010/images/PostAuthorIcon.png Author: Editorial (http://www.tremeritus.com/author/editorial/)
http://www.tremeritus.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Capture2-300x156.jpg (Photo MFA)
ESM Goh Chok Tong, who is on a visit to India from December 3 to 6, called on Indian PM Manmohan Singh in New Delhi today (4 Dec).
Both ESM Goh and PM Singh reaffirmed the excellent relations between Singapore and India.
They also noted that Singapore and India will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations in 2015, and looked forward to the reciprocal state visits by the presidents of both countries that year.
PM Singh also conveyed his regards to PM Lee Hsien Loong and former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
Mr Goh and PM Singh also had a good discussion on the global economic situation and geopolitical developments in East Asia and South Asia.
The good relationship between Singapore and India has its roots in the 1990s when Mr Goh was then the PM of Singapore. He initiated “mild India fever” with the aim of establishing deeper ties with India.
Following the warming of ties, the idea of formulating the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), essentially a free-trade agreement, between India and Singapore came up in a meeting between then PM Goh and then India PM Vajpayee in Singapore on 8 April 2002.
Later, a Declaration of Intent to establish CECA was signed on 8 April 2003 by George Yeo, then Minister for Trade and Industry with his counterpart. On 27 May 2003, negotiations for CECA between India and Singapore were launched in New Delhi.
After 13 rounds of negotiations, the India-Singapore CECA was successfully concluded and signed on 29 June 2005, during PM Lee Hsien Loong’s state visit to India. This landmark agreement is India’s first ever CECA and Singapore’s first comprehensive bilateral economic agreement with a South Asia economy.
One aspect of CECA is that Singapore must give more access for Indian professionals to work in Singapore.
Since last year, when Singapore started to make a number of changes to the criteria that qualified foreigners for a work pass, India got increasingly unhappy with Singapore as the changes to Singapore’s labour law did not give India the preferential treatment accorded by CECA.
Things came to a head this year when the Indian government cried foul over Singapore’s attempts to impose restrictions on the entry of foreign workers, which affected Indian nationals already working or seeking to work in Singapore [Link (http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/govt-decries-ceca-violation-by-singapore-113021700123_1.html)].
According to Indian officials, this was a violation of the services trade agreement under CECA. The Indian officials said that the restrictions would adversely affect Indian nationals, especially middle level workers.
The Indian media reported, “Those of you planning to make it big in Singapore might be in for a setback. Singapore recently made certain changes to its Employment Pass Framework law to reduce inflow of foreign workers significantly to create more job opportunities for local professionals. The move is expected to impact even those Indians working there at present across various sectors.”
“This stance by the Singapore Government is expected to affect Indians working as middle-level managers, executives and technicians.”
Speculation is rife that India might take up the issue with World Trade Organization’s (WTO) dispute settlement body.
However, a senior Singapore government official told the Indian media, “We have not imposed quotas as such for any country. Of course, the end result is still a reduction of the current foreign workforce numbers. But in doing so, I do not think we have contravened our commitments in the WTO or the CECA. Moreover, this is not specifically targeted to any one country. We remain very open to foreign talent.”
Currently, there are about 200,000 Indian nationals in Singapore, working in IT, finance, scientific research and other sectors – including laundry services where an Indian “foreign talent” was caught this year using a fake university degree to obtain an S-Pass to work as an assistant manager illegally, reportedly drawing a salary of $2,000 per month (‘Indian FT uses fake BA degree to work as assistant manager (http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/02/14/indian-ft-uses-fake-ba-degree-to-work-as-assistant-manager/)‘).
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?169940-Indian-fever’-architect-ESM-Goh-meets-PM-Singh-in-India&goto=newpost).