NEW DELHI - Singapore has handed over the North East Skill Centre (NESC) in India's Assam state to the local authorities .

Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam officiated at the handover of the centre from ITE Education Services to the Assam government on Tuesday (July 5).

He is in the north-eastern state of Assam as part of a seven-day visit to India, where he is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The NESC in Guwahati city, set up in 2019, was a collaboration between ITE Education Services and the Assam Skill Development Mission to provide affordable and high-quality skills training for rural youth.

The centre offers courses in beauty, wellness, hospitality and retail services. Singapore has provided technical assistance in areas such as curriculum design and development, and training of trainers.

The centre will now be run by the Assam Skill Development Mission.

"We are immensely thankful to the Government of Singapore for not only helping us in establishing the NESC, but also coming forward and showing interest in collaborating with Assam across many sectors which will be mutually beneficial both for the state of Assam and Singapore," said Assam Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah, who looks after skills development, according to a media statement from the Skill Employment and Entrepreneurship Department of the Assam government.

It quoted Mr Tharman as saying that Assam has tremendous potential for growth. "Skill needs to be continuously developed and it is an evolving process," he said.

The two countries have long-term collaboration in the skills sector as Mr Modi has sought to focus on improving skills training and encouraged cooperation between Indian states and other countries.

Singapore signed a memorandum of understanding with Assam state in 2016 to set up the NESC. It has also collaborated with India to set up a skills centre in Delhi and another one in Udaipur, a top tourist spot.

Mr Tharman and his wife Jane Yumiko Ittogi on Tuesday also visited the Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati.

On Monday, Singapore-based Surbana Jurong and Assam Industrial Development Corporation signed a letter of intent for urban infrastructure development.

Mr Tharman is scheduled to deliver the inaugural Arun Jaitley Memorial Lecture on Friday, apart from meeting Mr Modi and other Indian ministers, said the Singapore Prime Minister's Office.

He will also meet business and think-tank leaders in the capital, it added.

The memorial lecture is named after Mr Arun Jaitley, who was finance minister between 2014 and 2019.