SINGAPORE: Singapore and India should consider exploring the untapped potential of cooperation in naval ship building, an expert from an Indian naval think-tank said here on Friday.

There are excellent opportunities for the two countries to jointly build warships in India, given Singapore’s technological and design expertise and the low production costs in India, particularly in terms of labour and raw-material, said Captain Gurpreet S Khurana, who is the executive director of the National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi.

“India has lately offered several incentives to foreign firms to undertake joint-research and co-development of defence hardware,” he said.

…Khurana spoke at the conference “The Merlion and the Ashoka: Singapore-India Strategic and Defence Ties”, which was organised by the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies of Singapore.