Singapore-China to set up cooperative partnership

Singapore and China today agreed to establish an "all-round cooperative partnership progressing with the times" to elevate bilateral relations to a new height and mark the 25 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In a joint statement today, the two countries said Chinese President Xi Jinping had "candid, cordial and in-depth discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues of common interest and reached broad consensus on many areas" with Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
"The two sides spoke highly of the tradition of friendly exchanges started by our pioneer generation of leaders and agreed to build on this foundation," the joint statement said.

Singapore welcomes China's 'One Belt, One Road' initiative which complements the development needs of the region.
"Both countries agreed to explore new areas and initiatives for cooperation that evolves in tandem with the development needs of each other.
"With economic cooperation being one of the key pillars of their bilateral relationship, Singapore and China will continue to promote bilateral trade and investment through platforms such as the Investment Promotion Committee.

"Singapore welcomes Chinese businesses to use Singapore as a base for internationalisation. China and Singapore also endeavour to encourage our companies to explore third-country cooperation between the businesses of the two countries under the 'One Belt, One Road' initiative and the Masterplan on ASEAN Connectivity," the two countries said.

China is Singapore's largest trading partner, while Singapore has been China's largest foreign investor since 2013.
Singapore, rated as Asia's financial hub and trading centre, also became China's largest overseas direct investment destination in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2014.
Diplomatic sources said Singapore, as an Asian financial hub is a leading springboard to China which has now become a leading source of hardware investments in infrastructure for emerging economies.
Both Singapore and China are upgrading the bilateral Free Trade Agreement by 2016 which will also benefit transshipments of regional trades.
China also welcomed Singapore's early support to become a prospective founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The China-led AIIB would be a major source of funding infrastructure financing in emerging Asian economies, all of which are looking to have it channel through Singapore, the statement added.