SBF plans initiative to help S’pore businesses benefit from cross-border trade, investment

SINGAPORE – The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) is setting up a new public-private partnership initiative to boost cross-border trade and investment between local companies and their regional peers.

The Centre for the Future of Trade and Investment (CFOTI) will build capability among Singapore and regional businesses to maximise the benefits of trade and investment, said SBF vice-chairman Andrew Kwan at the

Singapore Apex Business Summit

on July 25.

The centre will be supported by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Enterprise Singapore as well as businesses, foundations and other like-minded partners, he said.

SBF said in a statement that the CFOTI aims to build a regional community of trade and investment practitioners, thought leaders and government officials working together to advance global trade.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng told the summit, held at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, that the new centre “represents a strong desire by the business community to significantly expand its existing trade competencies and capabilities, in response to the increasingly complex global trade environment”.

He added that initiatives such as this are imperative, as the next era of trade and globalisation will be marked by significant discontinuities and disruptions. “We hope that for businesses, you can also play your part by staying nimble, agile and responsive,” he noted.

Dr Tan also highlighted global trends that could reshape the global trade and investment landscape, including the US-China rivalry, a reorienting of world trade along geopolitical lines, climate change and technology.

He said geo-economic competition has led countries to enact measures to protect their domestic economies. The World Trade Organisation estimates that trade between allied blocs has grown 4 per cent to 6 per cent more slowly than trade within such blocs.

However, the reorientation of trade flows has also led to the formation of new trade corridors within South-east Asia that have benefited from an increase in imports of intermediate goods from China and exports of finished goods to the US.

“For our businesses, especially our SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), this presents an opportunity not only to build your presence in new markets, grow your customer base, but also enables you to diversify and build resilient supply chains,” Dr Tan said.

Mr John Denton, the secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce, noted in his address that governments need to strengthen the multilateral trading system amid concerns of growing protectionism and simmering trade frictions.

“The demise of the rules-based multilateral trading system will result in greater uncertainty and economic losses for all developing countries – including a 33 per cent decline in global trade in goods, as well as permanent GDP (gross domestic product) loss of over 5 per cent,” said Mr Denton.

Mr Kwan told the event that trade is vital to Singapore as a small city-state with no natural resources, adding: “However, a stable and open business environment cannot be taken for granted, given an increasingly volatile trade and regulatory environment.

“A coordinated response from stakeholders in Singapore and the broader region is required for businesses to anticipate the opportunities and overcome the challenges of trade and investment trends and remain globally competitive.”

He added that the new centre will help deepen capabilities of businesses to engage in cross-border trade and investment by building up a pool of industry practitioners skilled in trade and investment issues.

It will also expand the capacity of businesses to benefit from trade and investment agreements through the provision of advice from in-house experts and industry specialists.

A committee led by Mr Gan Seow Kee, former vice-chairman of SBF and former chairman of ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, has been formed to steer the formation of the CFOTI.