Toast Speech by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the State Banquet Hosted by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 16 January 2025

Your Excellency President Droupadi Murmu

President of the Republic of India

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen 

1. It is a real pleasure for me to be back in India, and an especial honour to be here as we commemorate the 60^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and India. I would like to thank President Murmu for your invitation and for hosting my State Visit, and for the warm and gracious hospitality extended to me and my delegation.

2. I have visited India many times in my previous capacities, and witnessed India’s transformation, particularly in the last ten years:

   1.  India has made remarkable advances in social and economic development, uplifting the lives of hundreds of millions, especially women and the rural poor. The introduction of basic social amenities on a massive scale over the last decade - from electrifying villages to providing clean piped water and cooking gas, to building household toilets, to establishing primary healthcare and rural childcare centres, has changed lives on a scale extraordinary both by historical standards in India and by any global standard.  Rural poverty in total has been cut by more than half in the last decade, lifting 250 million people up from multidimensional poverty within this short period.

   2. Unprecedented too has been the deployment of the digital revolution to improve lives. The mass of people, from street vendors to farmers, now have their own bank accounts and health accounts, and access to a thriving digital payments system that supports cashless transactions for all.

   3. Achieving these advances at such speed and scale, across 28 states, reflects India’s collective ambition and ability to organise for the public good. It also now provides a  foundation of social inclusion, that positions India well in its ambition to becoming a developed nation, Viksit Bharat, by 2047. Well before then, it should also become the world’s third largest economy.

3. Singapore and India share a special and longstanding friendship. The bonds between our two countries are deeply rooted in history and go back centuries. Indeed, the name Singapore, or ‘Singapura’ in Malay, was derived from Sanskrit, reflecting India’s early influence in Southeast Asia. And through the centuries, Singapore has been a gateway for India’s trade with Southeast Asia and East Asia.

4. 2025 marks both the 60^th anniversary of Singapore’s independence and the 60^th anniversary of Singapore-India diplomatic relations. India was one of the first few countries to recognise Singapore’s independence on 11 August 1965, just two days after we separated from Malaysia.

5. Over the years since our independence, our ties have grown from strength to strength. Singapore has been the leading foreign investor in India for several years. And we are now committed to investing in and participating in India’s ambitious plans for the future.

6. Our bilateral relations are on a new trajectory. The upgrade in our relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to Singapore last September 2024, is leading to collaboration on several new and forward-looking initiatives, including a joint flagship programme for training of industry-ready skills in India’s young population, cooperation in developing India’s semiconductor ecosystem and new generation industrial parks, and deepening our partnership in green energy. We are also exploring ways to enable the safe and trusted flow of data between our financial institutions, among other critical areas.

7. Through the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable (ISMR) and other platforms, we will continue to review and refresh our bilateral agenda in our mutual interests. There is much more that we can do together. And with each of these new initiatives, we also show how it is possible to achieve mutual prosperity and trust between nations, in an increasingly uncertain and fractious world.

8. I look forward to my visit to Odisha, where we hope to explore further opportunities for bilateral cooperation. Known for its world-famous temples and heritage sites, Odisha also holds considerable economic potential given its wealth of natural resources and its strong foundation in education, with a literacy rate close to the national average. Part of the eastern region that is a new engine of growth for India, Prime Minister Modi has set the goal of making Odisha one of the fastest-growing states.

9. I will be joined by a Singapore business delegation in Odisha to understand its emerging potential, including in ports, logistics, infrastructure development, and renewable energy. We are also building on Singapore’s close involvement in Odisha’s World Skills Centre to help develop the skills in demand for future industries.

10. India and Singapore, in many ways, are striking contrasts – one a continental-scale nation with a depth of cultures shaped over millennia, the other a city state built on its social compact and a ceaseless effort to be relevant to the larger world. Yet, we complement each other, and have found ways to tap on our differences to strengthen our partnership. We bridge differences through mutual respect and understanding of each other, our ability to find pragmatic solutions that serve both our interests, and a shared commitment to peace and a sustainable global future.

11. As the great humanist Rabindranath Tagore, said: “Let us unite, not in spite of our differences, but through them. For differences can never be wiped away, and life would be so much poorer without them. Let all human races keep their own personalities, and yet come together, not in a uniformity that is dead, but in a unity that is living.”

12. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, may I now invite you to join me in wishing for:

    1. The good health and success of President Murmu,

    2. The continued peace, progress, and prosperity of India and,

    3. The enduring friendship between Singapore and India, and a ‘unity that is living’.