The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) yesterday extended their collaboration on the Chinese- language Belt & Road portal, a year after its official launch.

SBF and SPH signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), one on broadening the portal's news content and adding an events calendar, and the other on developing an English version of the portal.

The Belt and Road portal is South-east Asia's first comprehensive website focusing on China's One Belt, One Road initiative, which promotes infrastructure projects along historical land and sea trade routes.

The portal provides updates on the latest developments related to this initiative, Singapore and regional perspectives and insights on the opportunities and risks that the initiative presents.

Since its launch in March last year, the portal has received a total of 7.5 million page views, with visitors coming mainly from the Greater China Region, Singapore, Asean and the United States.

Later this year, an English version of the portal will be unveiled. It will be aimed at attracting more international readers and widening the portal's reach beyond the region.

It will tap the overwhelming demand for Belt & Road-related news, as well as provide a Western community's perspective on this initiative.

SPH deputy chief executive officer Anthony Tan said: "The English portal will help to strengthen the understanding of this initiative for readers and enterprises, and create more business opportunities in the region."

SBF chairman Teo Siong Seng added: "The Belt & Road initiative is projected to involve 65 countries constituting 4.4 billion people and about 30 per cent of global gross domestic product. It offers great business opportunities, so we strongly encourage Singapore businesses to visit the Belt & Road portal often to gain insights and explore possibilities for business and investment."