Six agreements were signed between Singapore companies and organisations from Guangxi yesterday, furthering economic and trade ties between the Republic and the Chinese region.

Among the Singapore entities that inked memorandums of understanding (MOUs) was DBS Bank, which will collaborate with the Bank of China and Guangxi Investment Group on offshore bond underwriting.

The MOUs were inked at a forum organised by the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to deepen business collaboration between China and Asean. The forum was held at the Mandarin Orchard hotel and attended by about 150 people.

Mr Qin Rupei, the Communist Party of China's Guangxi standing committee member and executive vice-governor of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, suggested five areas to further relations between Singapore and Guangxi, including the mutual exchange of financial information and sharing of the benefits of the digital economy.

Mr Lee Yi Shyan,who is chairman of Singapore-based trade and cultural bridging non-profit organisation Business China, said the finance industry can benefit from the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor alongside the logistics and supply chain sector.

Guangxi can boost the exchange of the Chinese yuan and Asean currencies through banks and improve cross-border currency transfer mechanisms, as well as encourage organisations from central and western China to invest here, he noted.

Singapore Business Federation chairman Teo Siong Seng noted that there are more than 7,000 Chinese companies in Singapore, of which around 160 are listed here.

He said Chinese firms can leverage Singapore enterprises' global networks to build partnerships with corporations around the world, and make joint investments to develop third-party markets.