New Delhi, July 8 (KNN) A delegation of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) visited Singapore to create an Indo-Singapore Business Corridor for SMEs to boost bilateral trade between two countries and digitalising 7 crore Indian traders and SMEs by partnering under Business Sans Borders Program.

This plan was announced at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2018 which was also addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The CAIT delegation led by its Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal comprised of other CAIT senior officials as well.

The delegation visited Innovation Labs of SAP and MasterCard, both partners in the Business Sans Borders program.

The delegation also held series of meetings with senior officials from Singapore Business Federation (SBF - Singapore’s apex trade federation) and Singapore India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) and both institutions felt a joint understanding and set of programs with CAIT.

A MoU will soon be concluded with SBF and SICCI to facilitate Digitalisation and Internationalisation of Indian traders, laying the foundation for an India Singapore digitised trade corridor to be formed.

GlobalLinker and MasterCard will also help with trade and knowledge exchange between traders, who are the largest constituent and significant contributors of Indian economy.

Singapore assured CAIT of all its support and cooperation and it was endorsed strongly by a meeting with Minister for Communications & Information S. Iswaran.

Iswaran wished CAIT well in their digitisation efforts of the Indian trading community.

Khandelwal said that the visit is “Historic and a major step in building on our digitalisation efforts of Indian traders. CAITs own strength of being the world’s largest representation of SMEs was very well complemented by the deep commitment to SMEs and the rich knowledge & capabilities of MAS, IMDA, GlobalLinker and MasterCard”.

“This visit will also lay a foundation for building a global federation of SME trade representatives and CAIT is happy to initiate and lead this initiative”, he added.

Javed Ashraf, Indian High Commissioner to Singapore while talking to the delegation said that he is very impressed and enthused with vision & leadership of CAIT. He assured to be with CAIT for digital connectivity with ASEAN market.

Sameer Vakil, Chief Executive Officer, GlobalLinker said “Our vision of making business growth of SMEs globally, simpler, more pro table and enjoyable, receives a huge boost with our partnership with CAIT. We stand committed in digitising and connecting SMEs, globally and are proud to be supporting Make in India (for the world) and Digital India in its truest form.” (KNN/LM)