The 10th meeting of Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council was held in Guangzhou on November 18th. It attracted government officials, enterprise and academic representatives from both places to share their stories of partnership and shed light into future opportunities for cooperation.

Li Xi, Party Chief of Guangdong, Ma Xingrui, Governor of Guangdong and Council Chairman of Guangdong met with Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Education of Singapore and Council Chairman of Singapore. Ma Xingrui and Ong Ye Kung signed an MoU to further the cooperation between Guangdong and Singapore, and witness the signature of 20 joint project between two places.

Li Xi welcomed Ong Ye Kung as well as his delegation, and introduced the economic development of Guangdong. He said Guangdong is paying strong effort on developing the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and building Shenzhen as a demonstrative district.

“I hope Guangdong and Singapore could seize the opportunities posed by the GBA and Belt and Road development and make good use of various platforms like the Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council. We could deepen cooperation in the fields of trade, smart city, culture, education, tourism and talent training to improve people’s livelihood of both places,” said Li.

Ma Xingrui stressed that the Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council has been an effective platform on tightening communication and cooperation over the past ten years since established. “The Council will continue to help partnering enterprises of Guangdong and Singapore and plan a new batch of joint projects to explore more partnership in a wider ranger of fields. We will also push forward the development of Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City with a high standard.”

Ong Ye Kung considered that Singaporean enterprises see new opportunities and great potential in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development as well as Shenzhen’s plan to develop as a demonstrative district and Guangzhou’s urban renewal plan. “In the future, we will focus on such areas as trade, innovation, financial services, smart city and talent exchanges, aiming to reach win-win situation.”

The meeting also included a discussion session on hot topics such as Greater Bay development, digital economy and smart city development. It invited to KOLs from government departments, enterprises and academia of both Guangdong and Singapore to join the discussion share their stories and perspectives on future cooperation.

In recent years, cooperation between Guangdong and Singapore has been increasingly close. The volume of import and export grew from USD 15.9 billion in 2009 to USD 18.7 billion in 2018. As the Greater Bay Area develops, Guangdong also see a rapidly increase of investment from its Singaporean counterpart.