Singapore and China's three bilateral projects continue to gain momentum, and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) yesterday provided updates on their progress.

The three intergovernmental projects are the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City and China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity.

The PMO statement noted that both countries will "strengthen cooperation in new areas such as healthcare and biomedical services, and modern services" in Suzhou, while tapping the China (Jiangsu) Pilot Free Trade Zone to test out innovations.

Suzhou is a city in Jiangsu province in eastern China.

Both countries also agreed to continue deepening efforts to promote the success of Tianjin Eco-City to other cities in China and countries along China's Belt and Road Initiative, given that the eco-city in northern China is at the forefront of sustainable development.

Leaders noted that good progress has also been made on the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CCI), in areas such as financial services, aviation, transport and logistics, and information and communications technology.

"In particular, the CCI-New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor has played a useful role in promoting trade and connectivity, and ensuring the resilience of supply chains between South-east Asia and Western China through the mutual hubs of Singapore and Chongqing amidst the pandemic," the PMO said.

The memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and agreements concluded at the 16th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) yesterday are:

• MOU on Health Cooperation

• MOU on Food Safety Cooperation

• MOU on China-Singapore (Tianjin) Customs Twinning Cooperation

• MOU on the Mutual Translation and Publication of Singapore-China Classics

• MOU on the Establishment of a Working Group to Study the Feasibility of Co-Developing a Dispute Resolution Mechanism

• MOU on Health Policy Fellowship Exchange

• Joint Paper on Enhancing Environmental Cooperation in the Post-Covid-19 Era

• MOU on Biomedical Cooperation between Singapore and the Suzhou Industrial Park

• MOU on Nanyang Technological University China (West) Entrepreneurship and Innovation Project

• Agreement on Deepening Cooperation on the Sino-Singapore International Joint Research Institute