Shanghai Party Secretary meets Singapore deputy PM

The way China and Singapore operate has fully proved that openness, exchange and cooperation is the only way to prosperity and inclusive growth, Li Qiang, Party secretary of Shanghai, said while meeting Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who is also the city-state’s Finance Minister, in Shanghai on Friday.

Shanghai and Singapore share many similarities and have wide space for cooperation. Both sides should deepen the scope of cooperation continuously in order to make more contributions to boost the friendship between China and Singapore, Li said.

Singapore is willing to deepen cooperation with China in various fields and jointly promote in-depth development of the “Belt and Road” strategy, Heng replied.

Heng attended the 1st Meeting of the Shanghai-Singapore Comprehensive Cooperation Council, co-chaired by himself and Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong, and the Pujiang Innovation Forum during his trip to Shanghai.

Hong Xiaoyong, Chinese ambassador to Singapore, and Shanghai leaders Zhuge Yujie and Xu Kunlin joined the meeting between Li and Heng.

Before the 1st Meeting of the Shanghai-Singapore Comprehensive Cooperation Council, Ying met Heng and his delegation. Hong, Shanghai Vice Mayor Xu and Stanley Loh Ka Leung, Singapore’s ambassador to China, also attended the meeting.

The 1st Meeting of the Shanghai-Singapore Comprehensive Cooperation Council serves as a landmark for the deepening of bilateral relationship between China and Singapore, Heng said.

Shanghai is willing to deepen cooperation with Singapore in areas of infrastructure construction, harbor transportation, shipping services, finance, scientific renovation, government service and management, urban management and cooperation on people-to-people exchanges, according to Ying.

During the Ying-Heng meeting, Shanghai and Singapore signed five memoranda of understanding, covering government departments of the two sides, arbitral institutions, financial institutions and enterprises.