[SINGAPORE] The China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City (CSGKC) is a useful test bed for the development of new technologies and will continue to support knowledge-sharing, leaders of the two regions said on Monday (Sep 1).
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said this in a statement after Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Gan Kim Yong visited the CSGKC, a state-level bilateral project that marks its 15th anniversary this year. While in Guangzhou, he met Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong, who also hosted him to lunch.
DPM Gan’s trip to the 232 square kilometre township was the first stop in his five-day working visit to China that began on Sunday.
On Monday, he visited the National University of Singapore Guangzhou Research Translation and Innovation Institute, the DBS Global Fintech R&D Centre, and agritech startup Singrow.
These are among the more than 50 Singapore companies currently based in CSGKC, which has served as a key landing pad for them to access the Greater Bay Area.
In its statement, MFA said that DPM Gan and Wang reaffirmed the strong economic collaboration and longstanding people-to-people ties between Singapore and Guangdong.
Guangdong has been Singapore’s top provincial trading partner in China for the last 36 consecutive years, noted MFA. “Beyond trade, our robust cooperation has expanded to a wide range of sectors, including advanced manufacturing, digital economy, intellectual property rights protection, education and healthcare,” the ministry added.
Apart from Guangzhou, DPM Gan is also visiting Shenzhen and Beijing. On Wednesday, he will attend a series of commemorative events marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
This is his first visit to China since becoming DPM. His trip comes about two months after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong made his first official visit to Beijing and Tianjin, at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
