Projects worth billions USD inked under China-Singapore connectivity initiative

CHONGQING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 400 projects worth over 54 billion U.S. dollars have been inked under the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity over the past seven years.

The projects included 218 government and business cooperation projects worth 25.26 billion U.S. dollars and 235 financial service projects worth 29.04 billion U.S. dollars. These projects have effectively improved the interconnection between the western region of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the initiative's administrative bureau on Monday.

Zeng Jinghua, head of the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity Administrative Bureau, said cross-border financing projects amounted to about 18.59 billion U.S. dollars, covering ten provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in western China.

The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a trade and logistics passage jointly built by Singapore and provincial-level western China regions, with Chongqing as its center of operations, has connected 335 ports in 113 countries.

Meanwhile, around 200 enterprises from western China and ASEAN countries have participated in the agricultural cooperation under the initiative.

Launched in November 2015, the initiative mainly targets financial services, air transportation, logistics, and information communication.

It is the third intergovernmental cooperation project between China and Singapore, following the Suzhou Industrial Park in east China's Jiangsu Province and the Tianjin Eco-city in north China's Tianjin Municipality.