SINGAPORE (Nov 3): Singapore companies can soon offer professional financial, legal and listing services to Shandong firms looking to internationalise.
The platform, co-developed by Enterprise Singapore and the Qingdao Bureau of Commerce, is said to feature companies such as Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC), United Overseas Bank (UOB), law firm Rajah & Tann, and the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
The platform is likely to be launched by next June.
Speaking at the Singapore-Shandong Business Council meeting on Thursday, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Chee Hong Tat noted this will be just one way for Singapore and Shandong to collaborate on the areas of connectivity and trade, modern services, sustainable development and people-to-people exchanges.
These key areas were decided upon “in tandem with the development priorities” of the region, said Chee.
Singapore and Shandong, a province in Eastern China, have a longstanding economic relationship, which Chee says “has grown from strength to strength over the last 26 years”.
This has seen several Singapore companies – ranging from infrastructure companies like CapitaLand and Mapletree to logistics players like Jurong Port, PIL and YCH group – who have established a presence there.
More recently, Singapore’s investment there has heightened, hitting nearly RMB80 billion ($15.4 billion) for over 1,500 projects in the first half of this year, noted Chee. This translated into Singapore-Shandong bilateral trade hitting RMB7.28 billion, a 3.9% growth over the same period last year, according to data from the Shandong Department of Commerce.
For now the two regions are looking to create more opportunities for trade for the 411 Singapore enterprises in Shandong and the 139 Shandong companies here.
One way is through Shandong’s pilot free trade zone focusing on information technology, healthcare, modern services and marine chemicals. “We hope to work together to expand into third-party foreign markets and optimize resources” said Ren Airong, Shandong’s vice-governor who was also speaking at the event.
To this end, Chee noted that several enterprises have already jumped on this bandwagon, with Singapore companies in early childhood education, logistics and modern services moving into Shandong.
Simultaneously, Shandong’s partners are creating a presence in the technology sphere. For example, consumer electronics firm Haier is setting up an innovation centre, and the Shandong University is co-launching a research centre on artificial intelligence with the Nanyang Technological University.
Going forward, Chee says Singapore companies can work alongside Shandong on its ongoing transformation efforts to its traditional industries such as oil and gas.
With trade and connectivity being at the heart of Singapore’s growth strategy, Chee says the city state must stay afloat in the current bleak global economic environment.
And for that he recommends it work alongside “like-minded partners like Shandong to achieve win-win outcomes” such as market access, ease of trade and better connectivity between both countries.
