Former Prime Minister of India - Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee's speech at the banquet hosted by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong

Your Excellency Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong,

Distinguished Guests,

Thank you for your kind words.

I would like to convey our strong gratitude to you, Excellency, and to the Government of Singapore for the gracious hospitality extended to my delegation and to me here. We are deeply touched by the warm and friendly welcome we have received. We particularly appreciate your ready acceptance of the scheduling changes in this visit. It reflects the special nature of the India-Singapore relationship and Your Excellency's personal contribution to it.

India and Singapore can trace their historical connections through the Chola dynasty, to a shared Buddhist heritage and into the colonial period. But it is in the last decade or so that we have moved actively and in concert to realize the potential for deep and abiding cooperation between our two countries.

We have admired the remarkable Singapore story as it unfolded - from third world to first in under four decades. India looks to Singapore as a powerhouse of economic development and modernization. Singapore can find in India both the human and natural resources as inputs to spur further growth. India provides Singapore with the space to accommodate its economic globalization ambitions.

Singapore is today India's largest trading partner in ASEAN. It attracts the largest number of Indian visitors into South-east Asia - business travellers and tourists. Our researchers, academicians and professionals have found their most fruitful interaction here.

So we come to Singapore with a mature recognition of the factors which vitalize India-Singapore relations, and of the potential energy for their further forward movement.

We have today reviewed the areas of our ongoing cooperation and looked at new possibilities. Ideas for a bilateral Economic Cooperation Agreement, for an India-Singapore Biotechnology Park and for collaboration in space technology offer some new and interesting guide posts to the future.

We have also discussed our strategic environment, political concerns and security challenges. Recent events have dramatically demonstrated the reach and penetration of international terrorist forces. Societies like ours have to close ranks against these forces.

India and Singapore have been working together closely to strengthen India's ties with the South-east Asian region. Singapore has played an important part - and you, Mr. Prime Minister, have had a sterling role - in facilitating India's dialogue with ASEAN and its participation in the ASEAN Regional Forum. We are convinced that India's destiny, like that of Singapore, is closely intertwined with the future of South-east Asia and of the Asia Pacific. We can both flourish in a dynamic, mutually beneficial partnership. It is with this perspective that we look forward to the first ASEAN-India Summit in November this year.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I invite you to join me in a toast

- to the health of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong ,

- to the happiness and prosperity of the people of Singapore, and

- to friendship between India and Singapore.