Health and Transport minister of Singapore, Balaji Sadasivan said that Singapore looks towards India for biotech- biomedical joint ventures and seeks Indian participation in creating a strong hub for healthcare, biotech, medicine, research and development in Asia, serving as a medical centre globally.

He indicated that India has reached commanding heights in a multitude of fields and it is time that India and Singapore integrate to form an unparalleled biomedical-healthcare collaboration. Balaji was speaking at a session on 'Bridging India and Singapore to build global networks' as part of the Partnership Summit that is being held at Hyderabad. The session sought to explore how Indian companies could use Singapore as a bridge to take advantage of its global network and how the partnership between India and Singapore in the field of healthcare and life sciences be developed fully.

The bilateral trade between the two countries has been constantly growing and stands at USD 3.8 billion annually, with telecom, healthcare, IT, port management, education and R&D forming the main chunk of the trade.

Today, Singapore receives nearly two hundred thousand medical tourists annually. However, it aims to receive almost a million of them every year, considering the fact that ASEAN is home to 500 million people. Singapore can achieve its objectives quickly if it partners with India. Cutting edge technology, research in the field of molecular biology, nanotechnology, biotech, alternate medicine and stem cell research would enable Singapore to develop a strong medical hub.