Singapore deepens economic cooperation with China through new platform with Shanghai

Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry signed two Memoranda of Understanding with China on April 29 to deepen bilateral economic cooperation.

The MOU on the establishment of the Singapore-Shanghai Comprehensive Cooperation Council was signed by Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing and Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong.

Under this MOU, Singapore and Shanghai will establish a ministerial-level platform to deepen cooperation in six key areas, namely, Belt and Road Initiative, financial services cooperation, technology and innovation, ease of doing business, urban governance, and people-to-people exchanges.

Enterprise Singapore and the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office will serve as the Council Secretariat for Singapore and Shanghai respectively.

Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat and Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong will be the co-chairmen of the council, while Senior Minister of State for Law and Health Edwin Tong and Shanghai Vice Mayor Xu Kunlin will serve as vice co-chairmen. The inaugural council meeting is scheduled to take place on May 24 this year in Shanghai.

Singapore and Shanghai enjoy robust economic relations. In 2018, Singapore-Shanghai trade amounted to approximately US$13.5 billion, accounting for about 13.6 percent of Singapore’s trade with China. As of end 2018, Singapore had over 4,800 projects in Shanghai, amounting to about US$15.2 billion worth of cumulative actual investments.