SINGAPORE - Media group Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is tying up with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to develop South-east Asia's first bilingual B2B e-commerce platform to enhance cross-border trade between China and South-east Asia.
The bilingual e-commerce platform in English and Chinese is supported by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore. It will provide one-stop B2B services to business enterprises in China, Singapore and other South-east Asian countries.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the partnership was signed on Monday morning (Sept 19) by SPH's executive vice-president of digital division Julian Tan and ICBC's general manager Zhang Weiwu. The signing was witnessed by Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang, China's Ambassador to Singapore Chen Xiaodong, ICBC chairman Yi Huiman, SPH CEO Alan Chan and IE Singapore CEO Lee Ark Boon.
"This is a strategic collaboration, bringing together both companies' expertise and reach," said IE Singapore's Mr Lee.
"This B2B e-commerce platform will foster greater regional trade and enable more Singapore companies to extend their digital reach into China and South-east Asia. This partnership builds upon Singapore's connectivity and reinforces Singapore's position as a trade and e-commerce hub."
Under the agreement, SPH and ICBC will broaden their cooperation, and also consider the other party as their preferred partner for any business cooperation, financial related services and exhibitions.
SPH will start a bilingual Internet portal for enterprises from South-east Asia and China to promote their products and services while tapping on the clients and services provided by the existing e-commerce platform or "e-Mall" managed by ICBC.
SPH will also recommend to ICBC established enterprises to cooperate in business developments in Singapore and other South-east Asian countries, while ICBC will create conditions to facilitate cross-border e-commerce and also more leads for Chinese enterprises that are keen to establish e-commerce marketplaces in Singapore.
Both parties will jointly carry out promotion and publicity matters for their cross-border e-commerce platform.
SPH and ICBC will also jointly organise an annual exhibition on the Internet economy to attract the participation of enterprises in Singapore, South-east Asia and China.
