JEDDAH, 11 December 2006 — A 21-member business and investment delegation from Singapore met with the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) yesterday, proposing joint ventures in third countries and expansion of bilateral trade.
“We’re here to explore the prospects of new partnerships that could help in setting up joint ventures not only across the Kingdom or the region, but also elsewhere in the world,” Martin Yuoon, director of Singapore Business Federation (SBF), told Arab News on the sidelines of the delegation’s meeting at the chamber. “Our joint ventures could target rapidly growing economies like China and India where there is growing demand for technologies and services,” he said.
Singapore is keen on promoting joint ventures in sectors like oil, petrochemical and real estate. It is now serious in promoting Islamic banking with the help of the Kingdom. “Saudi Arabia has a strong Islamic banking system with Islamic financing constituting 20 to 30 percent. In our vision to build Singapore as a financial hub, we’re in the early stages of Islamic banking and we hope to benefit from Saudi Arabia’s experience,” he said, adding that there are, of course, many other areas that can be mutually beneficial to the two countries.
The volume of bilateral trade reached the 16 billion Singapore dollar mark in 2005 and SBF’s first business mission to Saudi Arabia aims to boost the island’s exports in a bid to narrow the trade balance that favors the Kingdom. Singapore also aims to attract more of Saudi investment, which currently stands around 900 million dollars.
Asked whether Singapore businessmen would consider establishing joint venture manufacturing or assembly plants in the Kingdom, Yuoon said: “We have moved our manufacturing bases to other Far Eastern countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia as we found them economically viable there. We’ll consider establishing ventures in the manufacturing sector here when we find it economically feasible.”
The mission has also shown interest in the business opportunities available in the King Abdullah Economic City project. “If the city is able to provide us low cost startups, we’ll consider them,” he said.
JCCI Vice Chairman Mazen Batterjee, who presided over the meeting, said that Singapore was known for its high-tech products and services and Saudi businessmen could benefit from the island state’s expertise.
Teng Theng Dar, vice chairman, Middle East Business Group (MEBG), SBF, speaking on behalf of the delegation, said SBF formed the MEBG as a platform to facilitate business opportunities between the Singapore and the Middle East and North Africa region.
There have been high-level visits exchanged between the two countries, the latest being the visit of the Singapore prime minister to the Kingdom three weeks ago. “Such exchanges have sent strong strong political signals for forging a closer economic partnership,” Dar said. “Both our business communities should capitalize on the strong foundation formed at the political level and strengthen our business connections accordingly.”
At the national level, SBF acts as a bridge between the government and businesses in Singapore. At the international level, SBF represents the business community at regional, bilateral, multilateral forums for promoting trade expansion and business networking.
Singapore, with less than one-fifth of the Kingdom’s population, has no natural resources. “What we lack in size, we make it up in the development of human resources in sectors especially related to services like health care, education and IT,” he said and emphasized that these were among the many areas that Saudi businessmen could consider for promoting joint ventures or partnerships.
Malaysia is the largest trading partner for Singapore, followed by the European Union, the United States, China, Indonesia, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
