A dialogue at the Africa Singapore Business Forum (ASBF) 2023 (Source: VNA) It takes place amid Singapore’s acceleration of efforts to seekopportunities for cooperation with African countries to tap into potential,diversify cooperation areas, and bridge African markets with the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The three-day event is attended by more than 500 business and governmentleaders from 40 countries, including 14 from Africa.
In his opening remarks, Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry Gan KimYong called for strengthening partnershipsto address grave challenges today, noting that the best response to suchchallenges is to deepen cooperation across regions.
“At the same time, we continue to strengthen our trade tieswith the rest of the world through free trade agreements”, he said.
The minister also highlighted Singapore’s role in the trade betweenAfrica and Asia and held that efforts should be made to secure closer tiesbetween Southeast Asia and Africa.
At the event, Gan witnessed the signing of five memoranda ofunderstanding that aim to boost business partnerships between Africa andpartners in such fields as manufacturing, hi-tech agriculture, andenvironmentally friendly construction materials.
According to Enterprise Singapore, trade between the citystate and Africa increased by about 15% annually during 2019 - 2022 to reach 19.4billion USD last year. Singaporean companies’ investments in the continenttotalled 32.1 billion USD as of 2021./.
VNA
