India, Singapore well positioned to create change: Prez Shanmugaratnam

India and Southeast Asia are well positioned to create a new era of opportunity, equity and sustainability, despite the resurgence of industrial policies among the major economies, Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Thursday.

Working with other responsible middle powers, both regions have the ability to strengthen multilateralism, which, despite its imperfections, has been an arrangement that has served nations both rich and poor well for decades, he said at a dinner celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), a think tank of the National University of Singapore.

Tharman also expressed optimism that Singapore-India relations will continue on an upward trajectory.

Industrial policies such as tax breaks and subsidies to promote specific industries domestically are returning at a rate not seen since the 1960s and 1970s, despite having largely failed then, Tharman noted.

For instance, the International Monetary Fund tabulated 2,50