DPM Gan Kim Yong's Opening Remarks at the 21st Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation

Your Excellency Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, colleagues from China, thank you for welcoming us to Chongqing, and for your hospitality in hosting the 21st JCBC.

This year’s JCBC holds special significance.

First, it coincides with the 35th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. We have conducted a series of high-level exchanges this year to mark this milestone. My Prime Minister Mr Lawrence Wong and Premier Li Qiang had an exchange of Official Visits. But our relationship extends much further back than 35 years. Early exchanges between Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Deng Xiaoping forged the mutual understanding and respect that have laid the foundation for our bilateral relations to grow and deepen, such as through the development of the Suzhou Industrial Park. Through the JCBC, we have built on this foundation to advance substantive, multi-faceted collaboration. We have also expanded our Government-to-Government collaboration from Suzhou into Tianjin and Chongqing. Both sides have shared a steady, long-term vision for our partnership – a strong commitment to further enhancing our all-round, high-quality and future-oriented cooperation.

Second, this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity or CCI in short. We are convening the JCBC in Chongqing to commemorate this important milestone. The CCI emerged from a shared and ambitious vision to strengthen cooperation and connectivity between Western China and Southeast Asia. Its themes of “Modern Connectivity and Modern Services” were designed to be both multi-faceted and forward-looking. In particular, the CCI – New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor has developed into a strategic trade corridor linking Western China with Southeast Asia and beyond. The CCI has also served as an important platform for deepening financial and digital connectivity between our two countries. There is scope to do even more in the next decade and beyond, by deepening connectivity to other markets and expanding collaboration into new sectors.

This year’s JCBC is taking place as countries worldwide face an uncertain geopolitical environment, rapid technological changes, and global economic headwinds. Each of our two countries have been making plans to navigate this uncertain future. It is therefore, all the more important for Singapore and China to continue to find ways to cooperate, anticipating challenges and capitalising on new opportunities for our businesses and our peoples.

I am pleased that both sides have continued to deepen cooperation in traditional areas, as well as expand our partnership in forward-looking areas such as the green and digital economies.

We will deepen cooperation in trade and finance.

We will also continue to step up cooperation on food security, healthcare, and leadership development.

We will be exchanging views on how to further promote joint research and collaboration in emerging sectors such as low-carbon technologies, sustainable development, precision medicine, and the various applications of Artificial Intelligence.

Underpinning our bilateral cooperation are our people-to-people engagements. We are enhancing exchanges in areas like youth and sports, which will strengthen the bonds between our people and our societies.

I trust that we will have a fruitful exchange of ideas and views and I will hand over the floor back to Vice Premier Ding to conduct the meeting.

Thank you very much.