Despite an increasingly complex global environment and growing uncertainties, cooperation between Singapore and China’s Jiangsu Province continues to show stability, resilience, and vigorous momentum. On the 3rd, government agencies, enterprises, and universities from both regions signed 19 cooperation documents to enhance collaboration in areas such as innovation, talent cultivation, and green energy. With the China-Singapore Life Science Park scheduled to open next year in Suzhou, enterprises from both countries can also seize new opportunities for cooperation in the biomedical science sector.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development of Singapore, said at the 19th Singapore-Jiangsu Cooperation Council Meeting held on the 3rd in Nanjing, Jiangsu, that Singapore and Chinese enterprises have made good progress in joint focus areas such as innovation, green economy, and biomedical sciences. She is pleased that both sides have signed 19 cooperation documents in multiple areas at the meeting.
According to data from Enterprise Singapore, economic ties between Singapore and Jiangsu remain close. In the first half of this year, bilateral trade grew 24% year-on-year, reaching US$9.3 billion (RM38.375 billion).
Indranee, who serves as the Singapore co-chair of the Council, said: "As one of China's most economically dynamic provinces, Jiangsu offers vast opportunities for Singaporean companies; Singapore has also always been an ideal gateway for Jiangsu enterprises to enter the Southeast Asian and global markets."
Currently, more than 800 Jiangsu companies are operating businesses in Singapore, with a cumulative investment of US$6.37 billion (RM26.285 billion); Singaporean enterprises have invested in over 4,300 projects in Jiangsu.
Liu Xiaotao, the Chinese co-chair of the Council and Governor of Jiangsu Province, said in a speech that this year marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore and the beginning of a new chapter for Suzhou Industrial Park as it embarks on its "next 30 years".
Liu Xiaotao expressed a warm welcome to Singapore’s active participation in Jiangsu’s high-level opening-up, further promoting bilateral investment and trade liberalization, and strengthening cooperation in fields such as cross-border e-commerce, biomedicine, service sector liberalization, and the digital economy.
This is Liu Xiaotao’s first participation in the Council as the Chinese co-chair since he took office as Governor of Jiangsu Province in October this year. Senior Minister of State for Health and Manpower, Dr. Koh Poh Koon from Singapore, and Deputy Governor of Jiangsu Zhao Yan, as the Council’s joint vice chairs, also attended the meeting.