Singapore and the Southeast Asian region should continue to closely engage with both India and China, given the two countries’ vital roles in regional growth and development, the city state’s Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sim Ann said on Thursday.

She underlined the significance of China and India as economic powerhouses and pivotal players on the global stage at an inaugural event for a series by two think tanks that are to examine key issues related to China and India and their roles in the global economy.

The senior Singaporean minister was speaking at the launch of the series 'China and India: Two Giants Shaping the Global Economy' to be held jointly by the East Asian Institute (EAI) and the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Experts shared their views and opinions on the two countries at the inaugural workshop pointing out that China and India, the world’s first and third-largest economies by purchasing power parity, wield immense global influence.

The two countries together account for 35 per cent of the global population and are projected to contribute 50 per cent of global economic growth in 2024.

The launch event was also addressed by leading experts, scholars and researchers, including Dr Li Li, Deputy Director of the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at Tsinghua University, and Professor C Raja Mohan, Visiting Research Professor at ISAS.

EAI Director Alfred Schipke said, “China and India stand as pivotal pillars in the global economic landscape, their combined potential driving half of the world's economic growth in the coming years. As key players in trade and innovation, their influence extends beyond borders, shaping policies and addressing global challenges.” The two NUS research institutes will jointly organise workshops and public events to examine China and India’s growth strategies and their broader impact on the global economy from a policy perspective by bringing together academics, policymakers, practitioners and business leaders.

ISAS director Iqbal Singh Sevea noted that both India and China are pivotal to the future of digitalisation and the transition to the green economy.

“Overall, the global order is evolving, and the future of the global economy will be shaped by India and China. Thus, we must understand the impact these two countries will have on global trends,” he said.

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