Chongqing - In a recent interview with Bridging News, Wong Choo Sin, Economic Counsellor at the Embassy of the Republic of Singapore in China, emphasized Singapore's efforts to enhance connectivity with Chongqing, Southwest China. 

Singapore and Chongqing have a longstanding economic partnership, with the CCI as a cornerstone project promoting economic integration in financial services, aviation, trade, transport, and logistics.

"In 2023 alone, both sides concluded over 200 cross-border financial contracts and more than 23 cross-border deals," Wong explained. "This has significantly helped companies in Chongqing and western China access a larger pool of financing at lower costs."

Wong also highlighted the digital and logistics collaborations between Singapore and Chongqing in the context of smart city development. Singapore has established a financial services sector in Chongqing to support digital trade.

Additionally, Wong mentioned Experience Chongqing Week, a cultural event held in Singapore in 2022 that showcased the best of Chongqing's culture, people, enterprises, and brands, allowing participants to experience Chongqing without traveling there.

As Chongqing aims to become the financial hub of western China, Singapore continues to be a leading financial services hub in Southeast Asia. Wong expressed that Singapore plans to explore partnerships with Chongqing in complementary areas, encouraging more companies from both regions to discover greater cooperation opportunities and foster people-to-people exchanges.

(Ma Manlin, Zhou Junjie, and Zhou Xinxin, as interns, also contributed to this report.)