On November 27, the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CCI) Consulting Experts Symposium was held in Wudu Hotel. From the Symposium, up to now, 55 cooperation agreements and 203 cooperation projects have been reached under the CCI, with a gross amount of USD 27 billion.

“Over the past four years since the implementation of the CCI, the cooperation between Chongqing and Singapore in financial service, aviation industry, transportation and logistics, information and communication, and other key fields has been deepened and expanded to education and training, cultural tourism, medical treatment, and health, etc. On this basis, we have explored ways to develop the key projects, including the land-sea corridor, China-Singapore cross-border financing corridor, dedicated channel on international internet data, etc., thus promoting the connectivity between Chongqing and Singapore and driving the accelerating development of Western China,” Han Baochang, Director of China–Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity Administrative Bureau, expressed.

Then, how to give better play to the national strategic platform, find more shared benefits between Chongqing and Singapore, expand the spot-to-spot cooperation between the two sides, and the region-to-region cooperation between Western China and the ASEAN, and to bolster synergetic development in regions concerned?

Li Mingjiang, Associate Professor at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, held that in the past, Singapore’s service and trade had to reach Western Asia and Central Asia across the Indian Ocean, Iran, and even the

The Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In comparison, today, if Singapore’s cargos can reach Chongqing first and then arrive in Western Asia and Central Asia regions via the land-sea corridor, the distance will be shortened.

The first three quarters this year have witnessed Chongqing’s foreign capital in the actual use of USD 6.547 billion, a year-on-year growth of 3.1%. Backed by the CCI, Singapore has become Chongqing’s second-largest source of foreign investment, and the proportion of introduced foreign investment from Singapore has gone up sharply from 4.9% to 28.8% of the total. Recently, the Singapore-originated foreign direct investment in Chongqing has accounted for over 1/4 of the total.

Source: Cqnews