S’pore, Malaysia set up workgroup to strengthen interconnected supply chains

SINGAPORE – Singapore and Malaysia will work to enhance processes to ensure that businesses can bounce back from crises and disruptions.

The initiative includes setting up a supply chain cooperation workgroup to build on their “common interests in supply chain resilience”, noted the second annual ministerial dialogue (AMD) on June 13.

Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and its Malaysian counterpart, the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, will share leadership of the new working group.

The AMD was set up in 2023 to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation and explore synergies between the two countries in new areas such as the digital and green economies.

The supply chain workgroup is in part a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which

exposed the need for a more formal approach

to dealing with disruptions.

The pandemic also revealed how interlinked the two economies are, and underscored the importance of protecting and maintaining the various elements within that relationship.

The ministries said in a joint statement on June 13 that during the pandemic, “both countries had put in place processes to enable goods and workers to move across borders”.

“This highlighted the interdependency of our economies and the potential for stronger cooperation to enhance the resilience of our supply chains before the next global disruption.”

Regular meetings will be held to explore how to boost this resilience.

Deputy Prime Minister and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong and Malaysia’s Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz co-chaired the dialogue at the June 13 meeting.

The statement noted that in 2023, Malaysia was Singapore’s third-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to US$92.1 billion (S$124.2 billion).

Singapore was also Malaysia’s largest source of foreign investment, contributing US$9.6 billion, or 23.2 per cent, of its total foreign investments.