PM Lee suggested offering Singapore as a corporate base for global companies, both big and small, as a possibility. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
SINGAPORE must find more niche areas to position itself to face a new world after the global economic storm, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday.
With new market dynamics and tougher competition ahead, it needs to find new growth sectors and gear itself up.
PM Lee suggested offering Singapore as a corporate base for global companies, both big and small, as a possibility.
Speaking at the official opening of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) vaccine manufacturing plant in Tuas, its first in Singapore and largest in Asia, he said: 'In the past, global companies operated with just one corporate headquarters, where all their key decision-makers were based.
'However, Asia is now the main growth story in the world. Many companies are therefore looking to locate their key functions and decision makers closer to Asian markets.
'With more and more manufacturing and R&D taking place in the region, companies are also establishing 'control towers' to better manage and coordinate their activities.
'Singapore's stable and pro-business environment, excellent connectivity and competent workforce make us an ideal Asian base for these companies. We need to find many more such niche areas.'
PM Lee said the newly launched Economic Strategies Committee will develop strategies to pursue global opportunities, enhance Singapore's capabilities, promote inclusive growth and make the best use of its finite resources.
Citing pharmaceuticals as a knowledge sector which Singapore should invest in, he said: 'Drugs are physically small but their effects are targeted and potent, and they command high value.
'That is how Singapore must be. Ours is a small island with no natural resources. We must therefore invest in knowledge and R&D, recruit and groom talent, and focus our efforts to excel in niche areas. Then we can transcend the limitations of physical size and punch above our weight class among the global competition."
The GSK's state-of-the-art facility will produce childhood vaccines that can save three million lives worldwide every year.
Singapore is one of GSK's two global strategic manufacturing hubs, and its regional headquarters for Asia Pacific. GSK has invested over S$1.5 billion worth of fixed assets here, and employ more than 1,000 people.
PM Lee said GSK and Singapore share a longstanding relationship, which began when it first set up a small sales office here in 1959, the year Singapore gained self-government.
It has since expanded its activities in Singapore to manufacturing, drug discovery and clinical research.
To deepen the links, Mr Lee said Singapore and GSK are jointly developing a 10-year strategic roadmap to better support GSK to develop and exploit the emerging health and wellness markets in Asia.
