During his five-day working visit to India from Oct 3 to 7 at the invitation of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met the Singaporean community in Delhi.
The reception was hosted by Singapore’s High Commissioner to India Lim Thuan Kuan at The Leela Palace Hotel on Oct 4.
Before mingling informally with the almost 150 guests and their children and patiently smiling through a plethora of selfies and photographs, PM Lee addressed the gathering.
He said: “I am very happy to meet all of you here. Glad we have a Singaporean community in India keeping their links. My last visit was in December 2012. I owe this visit to the fact that a lot has happened to strengthen the relationships between our two countries in these four years.”
He then mentioned Mr Modi’s visit to Singapore last November and the dinner the two leaders had at Komala Vilas in Little India. Among those present were several who had moved to India for work.
CEO of telco operator Aircel Kaizad Heerjee and his wife Shernaz moved to India in 2012 after 11 years in Singapore.
General manager of SUCG Infrastructure India Steven Ng, 52, has been in Delhi for three years. His current projects are with Delhi Metro and River Rejuvenation in Rajasthan.
Said Mr Ng of his stint: “I see the transitions taking place in India. It’s a much better place than I expected it to be.”
Mr Harkiran Singh Sandhu, 48, a third-generation Singaporean is country head of an American company, while his wife Inderbir Kaur, 47, is a psychology consultant. The couple moved to Gurgaon in 2009.
Said Ms Inderbir: “India’s cultural richness, its warm friendly people and the opportunity to understand our roots better, have endeared us to this country.”
Another attendee was Mrs Lado Kaur. She has been living in India for 40 years, having come to New Delhi as Gurvinder Jolly’s 20-year old bride from Singapore where her parents and siblings live. Her husband, an Indian citizen, is a retired businessman.
A recent addition to Delhi is Mr Francisco L. Avenir Jr, 57, and his family. He is a project engineering manager with CB&I, an engineering and construction company.
He and his wife Janet and their two daughters were originally from the Philippines and had lived in Singapore since 1992.
They moved to Gurgaon in February this year. He finds “India incredibly versatile and the people very hard-working”.
While in Delhi, PM Lee was hosted to a lunch by PM Modi.
The two witnessed the exchange of three MOUs on co-operation in the field of industrial property between the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and the Indian Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, co-operation on the establishment of a North East
Skills Centre in Assam between the Institute of Technical Education Education Services and the Government of Assam, and co-operation in skills development between the Institute of Technical Education Education Services and the Indian National Skill Development Corporation.
PM Lee also called on President Pranab Mukherjee.
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