China to firmly promote high-level opening-up, continuously optimize business environment, says Premier Li

SINGAPORE - Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Sunday that China will firmly promote high-level opening-up, further ease market access, continuously optimize business environment and actively address enterprises' reasonable concerns.

Li made the remarks at a China-Singapore business roundtable during his official visit to the country. He attended the event alongside Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.

Responding to the speeches of representatives from enterprises of both countries, Li said that over the past 35 years, through the joint efforts of China and Singapore, the friendly cooperation between the two countries has achieved significant progress and yielded fruitful results.

Li said practice has fully demonstrated that the development of each country presents an important opportunity for the other. As long as both sides adhere to mutual respect, mutual trust, opening-up and cooperation, they can share prosperity and jointly create a brighter future through mutual accomplishment, he added.

The premier said that since last year, the mutual visa exemption agreement between China and Singapore has come into effect, and their free trade agreement has been further upgraded, presenting new and important opportunities for the cooperation and development of the two countries.

Looking ahead, Li said, China-Singapore cooperation will continue to improve and upgrade and take on new characteristics. This not only requires joint efforts of the business communities of both countries, but also will bring new development opportunities to enterprises of both countries and around the world, he added.

First, Li called on both sides to upgrade cooperation from "complementary elements" to "collaborative innovation." China's complete industrial system, abundant application scenarios and a growing number of cutting-edge scientific and technological achievements, combined with Singapore's highly internationalized innovation ecosystem and advanced financial services, can unleash even stronger dynamics for innovative development, he said.

Second, Li encouraged both sides to upgrade collaboration from "bilateral cooperation" to "tripartite cooperation." China supports companies from both countries in exploring more flexible cooperation approaches, make full use of platforms like new land-sea corridors to actively engage with regions such as ASEAN and Africa, and jointly explore a broader market space, he said.

Third, Li urged both sides to transcend from "participating in global division of labor" to "jointly leading the formulation of rules." China and Singapore can take more proactive and constructive actions to strengthen the alignment of standards and rules in emerging fields such as digital and green sectors, and actively lead the development and transformation of the global industrial system, he added.

Li stressed that the recent fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China deliberated over and adopted the recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan, providing a strategic blueprint for China's development over the next five years.

China's economy has a solid foundation for stable operation, with growth rates among the highest of the major economies, and the flows of people, goods, information and capital remain active with new growth drivers increasingly robust, which will provide enterprises with a broader market, said Li.

He also noted that China will treat domestic and foreign enterprises equally and support Chinese and Singaporean enterprises in achieving greater development.

For his part, Gan said that nurtured by generations of leaders of both countries, Singapore-China relations feature a solid foundation and close cooperation, with each side being an important trade and investment partner of the other.

Singapore is committed to advancing the all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership with China, and is willing to take the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year as an opportunity to expand trade and investment, explore cooperation in emerging areas such as digital economy and green economy, strengthen multilateral coordination and achieve common development in the spirit of mutual respect and mutual benefit, Gan said.

Representatives from the business community attending the event said that China-Singapore economic and trade cooperation benefits the development and prosperity of both countries and the region. Singaporean enterprises are optimistic about China's development prospects and will continue to invest in China, believing that the Chinese modernization process will bring more opportunities to countries around the world, including Singapore.

They said the business communities of both countries are ready to further enhance engagement and deepen cooperation in areas such as finance, investment, digital economy, green development, infrastructure, logistics and healthcare, so as to achieve more fruitful results in the practical cooperation between China and Singapore.