Singapore and Shandong to make joint push into green, high-tech future

JINAN, China – From a pact to automate the production of high-end sports shoes to a deal involving the export of biofuels, Singapore and China’s Shandong province marked 33 years of economic ties with calls for greater collaboration in industries both old and new.

A total of 10 agreements were inked between Singapore and Shandong entities at the 26th meeting of the Singapore-Shandong Business Council in the provincial capital of Jinan on March 31, covering areas such as green technology, tourism and youth exchange.

The annual meeting was co-chaired by Shandong Governor Zhou Naixiang and Singapore’s Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow, who was appointed to the council in July 2025.

Addressing more than 100 government officials and business representatives, both Mr Siow, who is also Senior Minister of State for Finance, and Mr Zhou noted that the business council was the first provincial-level economic and trade cooperation mechanism that was set up between Singapore and China.

Since the council was established in 1993, bilateral trade between the city-state and China’s third-largest provincial economy has increased by 35 times, said Mr Zhou.

According to Enterprise Singapore, Singapore-Shandong trade hit 57.13 billion yuan (S$10.68 billion) in 2025.

There are now 657 Singaporean enterprises in Shandong that have invested a total of US$8.54 billion (S$11 billion) in the province. Meanwhile, more than 300 Shandong enterprises have set up bases in Singapore, with more than 130 of them expanding into international markets via the city-state.

In his speech, Mr Zhou said Shandong and Singapore are willing to further align their development strategies.

He noted plans to jointly implement high-quality development projects in Shandong in the areas of green development, artificial intelligence and elderly care services.

He also said that Singapore and Shandong will jointly expand the scope of economic cooperation, including in the new growth areas such as digital trade and biomedicine.

Mr Zhou and Mr Siow cited the need for closer people-to-people ties as well.

“In a world that is becoming more fragmented and has more conflict, we must find more of such opportunities for bridges and connections between peoples,” Mr Siow added.

In the last two years, more than 80 Singaporean students have participated in immersion trips to Shandong, and more than 40 Shandong students have completed internships in Singapore through Business China’s Youth Interns Exchange Scheme.

A common theme during the meeting in Jinan was the potential for Singapore and Shandong companies to make a greater push into the green economy.

Participants at the meeting also highlighted the potential for more cooperation in the services sector, which added 5.59 trillion yuan in value to the province’s economy in 2025, and the digital economy, which accounts for more than half of Shandong’s gross domestic product.

Mr Siow highlighted firms like 3E Memtech, a Singapore-based water treatment company that produces nano-filtration membranes that last longer and use less energy than traditional water purification technologies.

The membranes have been used to treat 25 per cent of the drinking water supplied in Shandong’s Feicheng city. But the company, which also has water-related projects in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, is exploring how the technology can be used in other industries too.

For instance, it is working with the Chinese Academy of Sciences on using the membranes to extract plant sucrose, which can be used to make biodegradable plastic.

“The reason we chose to come to Shandong... is it is the province with the most complete range of industries in China,” 3E Memtech’s marketing director Zhou Lixin told The Straits Times.

“It has a population of 100 million people, and it is a major centre for heavy industry so using our product for industrial applications can offer greater value.”

Meanwhile, Chinese companies looking to pivot towards the green economy have also looked to Singapore as the gateway to South-east Asia and beyond.

For instance, state-owned enterprise Shandong Hi-Speed Group told ST that it plans to install at least 300 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy outside of China by 2030. In 2025, the company bought over 27 solar power stations in Singapore, and it has projects in Laos, Cambodia, South Korea and Oman in the pipeline.

Citing Singapore’s stable policy environment and mature green finance system, the company said Singapore is an ideal “bridgehead” for Chinese renewable energy companies expanding overseas.

“Geographically, Singapore’s central position in South-east Asia enables it to serve as a hub for regional expansion, while also facilitating entry into emerging markets in Oceania, East Asia and the Middle East, offering significant strategic advantages,” said a company spokesman.

The push towards green technology may also be a boon for Singapore-based commodities trader Lobb Heng Group, which signed an agreement on March 31 to set up a trading hub for non-ferrous metals such as copper in Tai’an city in western Shandong.

The company’s financial controller Liew Meng Kaei said the supply of copper is even more important now given that it is used in electric vehicles, solar panels and other green applications. Mr Liew said Lobb Heng can tap the logistics base it has set up in Tai’an to distribute copper more widely across China.

In 2025, China added more solar and wind capacity than the rest of the world combined, and it plans to continue adding more. Shandong province, which is home to some of China’s largest refineries, is expected to install 200 million kW of non-fossil energy capacity over the next half-decade, up from 141 million kW today.

Correction note: An earlier version of the story misspelled Zhang Lixin’s surname. It should be Zhou Lixin. We are sorry for the error.