SHIPPING CORRIDOR, COOPERATION INITIATIVES
Singapore and Tianjin will also establish a green and digital shipping corridor – the first such corridor to connect the two countries.
The corridor will be a testbed for both countries to pilot and trial digital solutions, alternative fuels and technologies, as well as facilitate manpower development to support the decarbonisation and digitalisation of the shipping industry.
To establish the corridor, a memorandum of understanding – one of 24 MOUs and agreements earlier announced on Thursday – was inked between Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore as well as the Tianjin Municipal Transport Commission.
Both countries have also put together 15 new cooperation initiatives “to deepen partnerships across the public sector, businesses, and academia in both countries”, said Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office.
These include two MOUs signed at the JSC meeting between Singapore’s National Development Minister Desmond Lee, China’s Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ni Hong, and Tianjin Mayor Zhang Gong.
Mr Lee noted that bilateral ties between Singapore and China were upgraded in March to an “All-Round High-Quality Future-Oriented Partnership”, making it a special year for both countries.
“Having transformed salt pans, barren land and polluted waterbodies into a highly liveable home in the Eco-City over the last 15 years, the new initiatives lay a good foundation for Singapore and China to promote high-quality green growth in the Eco-City in the next bound of our collaboration,” Mr Lee said.
“This is important, given the challenges of climate change. This will also allow us to jointly seize new opportunities in the green and digital economy.”
After the groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, Mr Wong – who is nearing the end of his four-day official trip to China – held a bilateral meeting with Tianjin Party Secretary Chen Min’er. He is then set to return to Beijing to meet China’s Minister of Finance Lan Fo’an.
He previously called on Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Vice Premier He Lifeng in the Chinese capital.
