At the Nikkei Forum Innovative Asia 2021, a hybrid event held at Suntec Singapore Convention Centre and broadcast live to over 500 business professionals, officials and academics in the region and across the world, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing talked about the the challenges and aspirations of global businesses.
Trust will become an even more important factor with increased geopolitical uncertainties.
Interdependence, rather than independence, will provide greater diversity and resilience to our supply chains.
We are all safer if we have a shared interest in each other’s prosperity.
But trust is not a function of geographical distances. Trust is a function of mutual interdependence and track record.
This is the reason why Singapore will do our utmost, even in the depth of the COVID-19 pandemic, to allow companies sited here to fulfil their international commercial obligations, never restricting exports for our benefit but to the detriment of others.
This is also the same reason why we have done the same thing during the Oil Embargo in the 1970s. That has helped us to cement the trust which the world placed in us and allow us to grow Jurong Island to become one of the foremost petrochemical hubs in the world today.
In the search for stable long-term returns, policy consistency and business environment predictability are critical considerations for businesses.
This is why Singapore pays so much attention to this.
We say what we mean, and we mean what we say.
We will keep our promises and deliver on them.
