(Xinhua/Wang Ye)
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Sunday that China will resolutely promote high-level opening-up, further facilitate market access, continuously optimize the business environment and actively respond to legitimate concerns of businesses.
Li made the remarks at a symposium bringing together Chinese and Singaporean business communities as part of his official visit to the country. He attended the event alongside Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.
In response to speeches by business representatives from the two countries, Li said that over the past 35 years, thanks to the joint efforts of China and Singapore, the friendly cooperation between the two countries has achieved significant results and borne fruit.
According to him, practice has fully demonstrated that the development of each country represents a major opportunity for the other. As long as the two sides adhere to mutual respect, mutual trust, openness and cooperation, they will be able to share prosperity and jointly create a better future through achieving their mutual goals, he added.
The Prime Minister recalled that since last year, the mutual visa waiver agreement between China and Singapore has come into force and their free trade agreement has been enriched, which provides important new opportunities for the cooperation and development of the two countries.
In the future, China-Singapore cooperation will continue to improve and develop with new characteristics. This not only requires joint efforts from the business communities of the two countries, but will also bring new development opportunities for businesses in the two countries and around the world, he said.
First, Li called on both sides to elevate cooperation from “complementary elements” to “collaborative innovation.” China’s comprehensive industrial system, a wide range of application scenarios and its growing number of cutting-edge scientific and technological advancements, coupled with Singapore’s highly internationalized innovation ecosystem and advanced financial services, will be able to unlock the potential for even stronger momentum for innovative development.
Second, he encouraged the two sides to elevate the collaboration from “bilateral cooperation” to “tripartite cooperation.” China supports businesses in both countries to seek more flexible cooperation approaches, make full use of platforms such as new land-sea corridors to actively exchange with regions such as ASEAN and Africa, and jointly explore broader market space, he said.
Third, Li urged the two sides to move from “participating in the international division of labor” to “jointly leading the formulation of rules.” China and Singapore can take more proactive and constructive steps to strengthen the alignment of standards and rules in emerging sectors such as digital and green transition, and actively take the lead in the development and transformation of the global industrial system, he suggested.
The Chinese premier said that recently, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China deliberated on the recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan and adopted them, providing a strategic blueprint for China’s development in the next five years.
China’s economy has a solid foundation for stable operation, with growth rates among the highest among major economies, and the flow of personnel, goods, information and capital remains active with increasingly robust new growth factors, which will provide enterprises with a larger market, Li said.
He also noted that China would treat Chinese and foreign companies equally and support Chinese and Singaporean companies for greater development.
For his part, Gan Kim Yong said that thanks to the contributions of several generations of leaders of the two countries, Singapore-China relations enjoy a solid foundation and close cooperation, with each state being a major trade and investment partner for the other.
Singapore is committed to advancing the comprehensive, high-quality and forward-looking partnership with China, and is ready to take the opportunity of the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year to strengthen trade and investment, explore cooperation in emerging areas such as digital economy and green economy, consolidate multilateral coordination and achieve common development in the spirit of mutual respect and shared benefits, he said.
Business representatives who attended the symposium said China-Singapore economic and trade cooperation benefits the development and prosperity of the two countries and the region. Singaporean companies are optimistic about China’s development prospects and will continue to invest in China, as they are confident that China’s modernization process will bring more opportunities to countries around the world, including Singapore.
The representatives added that the two countries’ business communities are willing to strengthen engagement and deepen cooperation in areas such as finance, investment, digital economy, green development, infrastructure, logistics and health, with a view to reaping the benefits of practical cooperation between China and Singapore.
