DrabuJammu, Nov 21 (PTI) The Singapore government has offeredtechnical support to Jammu and Kashmir for capacity buildingin three key areas of skill development, river-front and watermanagement.
This was revealed by Minister for Finance Haseeb Drabu onhis return from a three-day official visit to Singapore.
Drabu said during his visit, he held extensivedeliberations with the ministers, government officials andexperts in Singapore on how best the expertise of that countrycould be utilised for capacity building in some critical areasin J&K.
He said the three key areas identified for collaborationinclude skill development, riverfront development and watermanagement for which the Singapore government will beextending technical expertise to the state.
The state finance minister said after follow-updiscussions at the official level, Memoranda of Understanding(MoU) would be signed between the concerned authorities inSingapore and the Jammu and Kashmir government to kick startthe collaborative mechanism in the identified areas.
He said the Singapore government has already establisheda skill development centre in Assam and has also signed an MoUwith the Odisha government in this regard.
"A similar collaboration between the J&K Government andSingapore will certainly step up the quality of our skilledyouth," Drabu said and added that as the state government isin the process of developing human and social capital forenhancing the capabilities of its youth, this partnership willgo a long way in fulfilling this objective.
He said similarly Singapore has made he strides inriverfront development and water management under thecountry's waterfront rejuvenation programme and replication ofsuch a programme could help the state in speedy restorationand revival of its waterfronts.
"Singapore has a separate master plan for water-basedactivities in the country and a similar concept could beimplemented in J&K for rejuvenation of waterways and waterresources," he said. PTI ABMKJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.