Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, has stated that a Bilateral Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Cooperation between the Intellectual Property Offices of India and Singapore will be signed shortly. During his bilateral meeting with Mr. Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore, here today, Shri Nath informed that as regards ASEAN-India FTA, considerable progress was made during the last meeting in Bali and added: "I am now hopeful that we would be able to achieve our target of announcing the conclusion of negotiations at the AEM-India Consultations in August".

During the interaction, Shri Kamal Nath said that Singapore was India's 5th largest merchandise trading partner and 4th largest merchandise export market and added that India's exports to Singapore grew by 16% in the year 2007-08 compared to a growth of 42% in the imports from Singapore. He further stated that Singapore ranks 4th in terms of foreign direct investment in India during the period 1991-2008 with investments of US $ 4.7 billion.

The total bilateral trade during 2006-07 was US $ 11.49 billion and has increased by 25.88% to US $ 13.42 billion n the year 2007-08 (up to February 2008) over the same period in 2006-07. Major items of Indian exports to Singapore were: petroleum (crude & products); other commodities; transport equipments; electronic goods and non-ferrous metals. Major items of Indian imports from Singapore were: electronic goods; petroleum (crude & products); organic chemicals; machinery (except electrical & electronic) and project goods.

The top five sectors attracting FDI inflows from Singapore are: petroleum & natural gas, mining, services sector, construction activities and power, whereas the top five sectors attracting technology transfer are: electrical equipments (including computer software & electronics), hotel & tourism, food processing industry, chemicals (other than fertilizer) and miscellaneous mechanical & engineering industries.

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RJ/MRS

Intellectual property cooperation agreement to be signed, strengthening bilateral IPR collaboration and trade-linked technology transfer. A Bilateral Agreement on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Cooperation between the intellectual property offices of India and Singapore is imminent, creating a cooperative framework for IPR matters. The agreement is linked to broader trade and investment relations, and is contextualised by progress on the ASEAN-India FTA negotiations, with trade growth, principal export/import categories, and key sectors for foreign direct investment and technology transfer noted as the economic backdrop for cooperation.