Singapore Investors Show Growing Interest in China's Western Region: TDB ChairmanSingapore's investors have shown continuously growing interest in China's western region, Chairman of Singapore Trade Development Board (TDB) Stephen Lee told a press conference Thursday in Singapore.Talking about Singapore's perspective of the development in China's western region, he said that the level of interest Singaporeans have shown in China's western region is rising and it is a very good indication. He said China's western region is much more competitive than the coastal region in terms of labor and cost as well as resources. "Since the charted flight started to Chengdu (capital of Sichuan Province), we have seen very active traffic between Singapore and Chengdu and from Chengdu they use it as a stepping stone to other parts of Western China," he said. Lee spelt out the key areas of interest Singaporeans have shown in the business opportunity in western China. First is the infrastructure, he said, noting that there are quite a lot of business opportunities for Singaporeans in the area of infrastructure, including airport upgrading and management, design, operation and transfer of tech projects down to power generation. Singaporeans also look at manufacturing, where western China has the resources but may lack market expertise and global contacts, and Singapore can serve as a bridge, he said. He said the third area is how to convert some of the very useful and very innovative R&D ideas to commercialized products, such as the traditional Chinese medicine. The last area covered is tourism and there are specific tourist attractions Singaporeans like to visit, he added. Zhou Hongli, minister counselor of China's Embassy in Singapore also affirmed that Singapore investors have high expectations on China and showed strong interest in participating in the grand development of China's western region. Since early last year, economic and trade exchanges between western China and Singapore have increased and many important delegations from Singapore have visited China's western region, Zhou said. Several high-level missions from western region of China have also visited Singapore and Singapore PWD Consultancy Co. has set up a representative office in Xi'an and launched a website on the grand development of China's western region, Zhou added. A seminar on Business Opportunity in Western China will be held here on Friday. Zhou said the seminar will deepen Singapore investors' understanding of China's western region and facilitate Singapore investors' participation in the grand development of China's western region. |
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