Agence France Presse

Singapore, May 31:

Singapore is aiming to become Asia’s hub for international non-profit organisations (INGO) in a bid to add ‘breadth’ and ‘volume’ to the domestic business environment, the government said today. Thirty-three non-profit organisations are already based in Singapore and effots are being made to attract many more, a spokeswoman for the Economic Development Board (EDB) said, confirming a report in the Straits Times.

The director of EDB’s services cluster, Kenneth Tan, told the newspaper that non-profit organisations will add a human dimension to Singapore’s rapid industrial development.

The organisations are also ‘quite substantial business’ as they will add to the economy through employment, rental payments and expertise, he said. United States-based Helen Keller International, which works to fight and treat blindness, set up here in September last year, the newspaper reported.

It has since held conferences and seminars that help to improve the city-state’s bio-medical services industry by providing local opthalmologists with professional expertise. A one-week long conference organised here this month by the Tax Free World Association (TFWA) pumped $6.2 million into the economy, the newspaper reported.