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Financial ties with Beijing will continue to be strengthened: Heng Swee Keat

XIAMEN — Singapore and China will continue to strengthen financial ties in investments, regulatory cooperation, cross-border capital market activities and emerging technologies, said Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Thursday (Sept 21).

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and delegates at an unveiling ceremony for OCBC’s Xiamen branch yesterday. Photo: Jason Quah

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and delegates at an unveiling ceremony for OCBC’s Xiamen branch yesterday. Photo: Jason Quah

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XIAMEN — Singapore and China will continue to strengthen financial ties in investments, regulatory cooperation, cross-border capital market activities and emerging technologies, said Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Thursday (Sept 21).

Speaking at an unveiling ceremony for Singapore bank OCBC’s Xiamen branch, which has recently been given a facelift, Mr Heng also said the historic building was a symbol of the enduring relationship between the two countries which has “stood the test of time”.

“We have a vibrant economic relationship. China is Singapore’s largest trading partner, while Singapore is the largest foreign direct investor in China,” said Mr Heng, who attended the event as part of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s delegation on a three-day official visit to China.

He added that the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative — the latest collaboration between both governments centred on logistics and infrastructure — and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will provide more avenues for both sides to deepen financial and economic cooperation.

The BRI is a Chinese undertaking to expand links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond, underpinned by billions of dollars in infrastructural investments.

Established in 1925, the Xiamen branch — located along Yat Sen Road, one of China’s heritage thoroughfares — marked the Singaporean bank’s first foray into China, and marries the traditional Minnian and Nanyang architectural styles of both countries. Over the last nine decades, OCBC Bank has maintained a continuous presence in the country, where it incorporated a local entity, OCBC China, in August 2007.

Headquartered in Shanghai, OCBC China has branches in Beijing, Xiamen, Tianjin, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Qingdao.

Also speaking at the ceremony, OCBC Group CEO Samuel Tsien said: “China’s ambitious ‘One Belt and One Road’ initiative is bringing about increased trade, capital, people and wealth flows.

“These in turn create new economic activities and, with them, continued social advancement. Singapore is uniquely qualified to play a conduit role for the Belt and Road flows.”

On Thursday, Mr Lee and his delegation were hosted to lunch by Fujian party secretary You Quan. In the afternoon, they visited the Fujian (Xiamen)-Singapore Friendship Polyclinic, China’s first public primary healthcare institution modelled after Singapore’s polyclinics in its design and operations. Established in 2011, the facility also offers training for healthcare practitioners from the Fujian province.

The six-storey building — located in Qianpu, a residential district with about 300,000 residents — was built with funds from Singaporeans, matched equally by the Xiamen municipal government.

A number of its staff, including the clinic’s director, were trained in Singapore under a programme by Temasek Foundation.

The delegation’s last stop was to ST Aerospace Technologies (Xiamen), where they toured a facility that conducts performance-testing for completed aircraft engines.

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