ECONOMIC and trade ties between Singapore and China are growing increasingly robust. The Chinese are welcome to join hands with Singapore businesses to break into the South-east Asian market with existing free trade agreements.

Making this point on Thursday (Feb 1) was Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling, who was speaking at the Singapore-China Economic Partnership Conference.

Organised by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the conference aims to advance bilateral trade and investment between both countries.

Delivering her speech in Mandarin, Low added that while the Chinese market indeed offers huge business opportunities, South-east Asia also boasts the benefits of having a population of more than 650 million people. It is a market with steady economic growth, brimming with young consumer groups.

About 200 business leaders and government officials attended the conference, which theme was “Trade and Investment Opportunities through Enhanced Connectivity”.

Pledging further cooperation

At the conference, three memoranda of understanding (MOUs) were inked. In the first one, SBF and CCPIT renewed their commitment to the mutual facilitation of business activities, to promote commercial and industrial relations between Singapore and China.

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Separately, the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) and the Commercial Legal Service Centre of CCPIT pledged to enhance capacity-building support for both Chinese and Singapore enterprises in the field of intellectual property protection, management and dispute resolution.

The CCPIT’s Commercial Legal Service Centre signed a separate agreement with the Singapore International Mediation Centre.

This MOU, alongside the Joint Declaration on the Provision of Legal Services for Regional Economic Development, will provide business communities from Singapore and China with mediation and arbitration support. This is as an alternative dispute resolution platform to enhance trade and investment cooperation in the region.

A letter of intent was signed between the China International Exhibition Center Group and companies participating in the second China International Supply Chain Expo held from Nov 26 to 30.

The second Singapore-China Business Council meeting was also held on the sidelines of the conference.

In the meeting, which was chaired by SBF chairman Lim Ming Yan and CCPIT chairman Ren Hongbin, key stakeholders deliberated on emerging opportunities for business collaboration as well as the introduction of new council members.

“China has consistently been a significant market for Singapore enterprises,” said SBF’s Lim. “Even though the global economic growth is expected to slow down, Singapore companies remain optimistic about the Chinese market.”

Citing the apex business chamber’s latest National Business Survey, Lim pointed out that half of Singapore companies are currently doing business in China, and more than a fifth (22 per cent) intend to do so in the future.

After Malaysia (64 per cent), China ranks second in terms of where Singapore companies have an overseas presence in.