S’pore and Jiangsu deepen ties with 16 new pacts inked

SINGAPORE - A weekly return flight between Singapore and Wuxi city in China’s Jiangsu province is expected to be launched by year end, carrying more than 70,000 customers each year between the two destinations.

The memorandum of understanding between Singapore’s low-cost carrier Jetstar Asia and Wuxi Sunan International Airport Group for the service is one of 16 pacts signed at the 17th Singapore-Jiangsu Cooperation Council (SJCC) meeting on Monday.

The areas of cooperation span from transport and logistics, to sustainability and healthcare, to professional services and digitalisation.

Another agreement was signed between CapitaLand Investment (China) and Nanjing Jianye District Government. CapitaLand Investment (China) intends to set up a fund in Jianye District to invest in projects relating to industry-city integration development, urban renewal and redevelopment of low-efficiency land.

The ongoing Singapore-Jiangsu projects have seen steady progress, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah.

For the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, more than 20 Singapore companies have been matched with companies based in Suzhou Industrial Park for collaboration in green development projects in areas including solar, industrial wastewater management and energy management.

This is part of the

Green Development MOU

signed by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) and the Suzhou Industrial Park administrative committee in 2022.

The ongoing Singapore-Nanjing Eco Hi-Tech Island project also has a Singapore Water Technology Overseas Landing Pad initiative to support Singapore water companies looking to conduct lab-scale and pilot-scale trials for their expansion into China. This was rolled out by Sembcorp and its subsidiary in Nanjing with EnterpriseSG’s support.

Apart from these existing projects, Singapore and Jiangsu have deepened their collaboration in key focus areas such as technology and innovation and professional services, said Ms Indranee.

In innovation, Enterprise Singapore and the Jiangsu provincial department of science and technology received about 60 applications over two rounds of the Singapore-China Yangtze River Delta (Jiangsu) Joint Innovation Call since the initiative was launched in June 2022, with notable interests across sectors such as sustainability, advanced manufacturing and digitalisation.

Despite the pandemic, total trade between Singapore and Jiangsu grew at an annual compounded rate of close to 9 per cent from 2019 to reach US$17.2 billion (S$23.6 billion) in 2022, said Ms Indranee.

“On the investment front, Singapore was Jiangsu’s second-largest foreign investor in 2022. Jiangsu also remained the province with the most investments from Singapore, with an accumulated investment amount of US$29.4 billion as of last year,” she said.

Currently, there are more than 370 investments from Jiangsu companies in Singapore, said Ms Indranee.

“As Jiangsu companies become more global and expand their presence in South-east Asia, Singapore professional services firms can continue to support their internationalisation journey.”

Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment and Manpower, said the Suzhou Industrial Park will need to move up the value chain to more value-added, advanced manufacturing.

Speaking at the meeting, he said: “(The park) will also need to address the challenges faced by industrial parks all over the world in an increasingly carbon-constrained world to combat climate change.”