Business China

SINGAPORE needs to look abroad and find opportunities to ride on China’s expansion, to grow despite its land and labour constraints, said Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong yesterday.

He urged Singaporeans who are already doing business in China to “help lead the way for others”, while the Government will continue to play an active facilitative role.

Singapore’s gross domestic product – the total value of the goods and services made within the country – is important, but the country is reaching its limits of land and labour, he said.

So, “you will find us increasingly paying more attention to our gross national product growth”, he added.

Gross national product is the total value of goods and services that a country’s citizens produce in the country or overseas.

Despite the global recession last year, China’s economy grew by 8.7 per cent, reinforcing its role as the engine for growth in Asia, including Singapore, said SM Goh, speaking at the Spring Reception of Business China, a networking platform for Singaporeans doing business in China.

In fact, reports predict that China will become the world’s largest economy in 10 to 17 years.

Early efforts by Singapore’s Government and businessmen have made China its third-largest trading partner and top investment destination, he said.

Singapore has joined high level dialogues, and inked free trade agreements with China, to create business opportunities and help Singapore firms gain a foothold there.

As the Chinese language is vital for doing business in China, the Education Ministry is looking at how to make Chinese lessons more engaging to help students pick it up, SM Goh said.

Non-profit groups like Business China have helped to foster cultural understanding between Singapore and China, he said.

Yesterday, Business China and International Enterprise Singapore launched the Young Leaders Programme, which seeks to groom young bilingual and bicultural Singapore business leaders.

Business China member firms can get funds to send employees – graduates of universities and polytechnics here with less than a year’s working experience – to their China offices.

Each trainee will get a monthly allowance of up to $2,000, and subsidies for return airfare and living costs. Each will be attached for six to 18 months in China under the guidance of a senior management mentor.

Eight firms have signed up to send 14 trainees to China. ST Electronics business development executive, Ms Genie Quek, 24, will start a stint in her firm’s Shenzhen office in three months. She hopes to understand the Chinese market and consumer sentiment there.

She said: “China is a market for the world. I can learn many things there as the Chinese market is large and still growing.”

Courtesy of My Paper, 17 February 2010

Look to China to beat constraints