China's Sichuan inks eight MOUs with Singapore

SINGAPORE - China's Sichuan province inked eight agreements with Singapore on Monday covering the consumer- related, infrastructure and logistics sectors.

Eight Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were signed at the 16th Singapore-Sichuan Trade and Investment Committee meeting, which was co-chaired by Gan Lin, Vice Governor of China's Sichuan province, and Lawrence Wong, Singapore's Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Second Minister for Ministry of Communications and Information.

Gan Lin said that China's "One Belt, One Road" and "Yangtze River Economic Belt" strategies have brought unprecedented opportunities for the development of Sichuan, an inland province in west China. Sichuan is willing to strengthen cooperation with Singapore to enhance its capabilities and propel development in west China.

Gan also noted that enterprises in Sichuan can learn from Singapore companies in the area of internal management, marketing and international strategies. If enterprises in Sichuan and Singapore can cooperate with each other by mergers and acquisitions and make full use of favorable business environment in Chengdu and market potential in Sichuan province, both sides will benefit from the cooperation.

Lawrence Wong said services, finance and manufacture have been the direction of cooperation. Singapore companies will continue to pay close attention to the development of Sichuan by providing innovative ideas and approaches and participating in the economic development of Sichuan province.

Wong noticed that Sichuan has become a transport and logistics hub in west China, and recent projects such as the second airport in Chengdu are in line with the "One Belt, One Road" strategy, which offers opportunities of cooperation. Experienced in planning and construction, operation and management, as well as goods transport, Singapore's aviation industry hope to cooperate with Sichuan in the field of logistics.

During the meeting, Singapore Food Manufacturers Association signed two agreements with agribusiness enterprise New Hope and Sichuan Provincial Investment Promotion Bureau respectively. Singapore Exchange, real estate firm Keppel Land China and logistics company YCH Group also inked agreements with the province.

Consumer-related sectors and aviation are identified as key sectors that Singapore companies can cooperate with Sichuan province. In the past year, Singapore SMEs in consumer-related sectors such as education and food showed more interests in Sichuan, with over 20 venturing into the province's consumer market.