Co-operation in the Information and Communications Technology Sector

Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Senior Minister of State for Transport and Information, Communications & the Arts Address - SIO-IDA MOU Signing Ceremony , The Shanghai JC Mandarin China, 1 November 2002

Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Senior Minister of State for Transport and Information, Communications & the Arts
Address - SIO-IDA MOU Signing Ceremony , The Shanghai JC Mandarin
China, 1 November 2002

Vice Mayor, Ms. Yan Junqi,
Director-General, Mr. Fan Xiping,
Director-General, Mr. Zhangjian,
Deputy Director-General, Mr. He Shouchang,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

1. Welcome to this MOU signing ceremony between the Shanghai Informatization Office and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. The MOU is intended to enhance exchanges and collaborations in the infocomm industry between Shanghai and Singapore.

2. China and Singapore work together in many areas including education, culture, science & technology. Years ago, I was personally involved in a cooperation project in public housing at Sanlin.

3. In ICT, I see great scope for active collaboration. We can see long-term partnership even without the MOU, that exchanges and collaborations between our two countries have been already been growing steadily. Several joint investment funds have also been set up between Singapore and Shanghai.

4. With the MOU, I hope to see a boost in these activities. The partnership is a win-win relationship. When Vice President Hu Jintao visited Singapore in April, he suggested four proposals to deepen cooperation between Singapore and China. One proposal was to strengthen cooperation in the hi-tech sectors. This MOU is a practical way to implement this aspect of Vice President Hu's proposal.

5. I am confident that it will in turn spark off many new business opportunities for our businessmen.

Thank you.