BEIJING - Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will co-chair the 19th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) with Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang during a four-day official visit to China that begins on Dec 5, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
Mr Wong will be in Beijing and Tianjin at the invitation of Mr Ding.
This is the first time the two men will be co-chairing the JCBC, which is the annual top-level platform between both governments that reviews substantive collaboration and charts the direction for cooperation.
They will also co-chair the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) meetings of three flagship government-to-government projects: the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City and the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity.
These JSC meetings will review progress and discuss further cooperation on the various projects, said the statement from the PMO.
In Tianjin, Mr Wong and Mr Ding will take part in activities to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tianjin Eco-City, the second of the governments’ flagship projects that promotes sustainability and green development.
Mr Wong, who is also Finance Minister, will meet Tianjin Communist Party chief Chen Min’er. He will call on Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, as well as meet Vice-Premier He Lifeng and Minister of Finance Lan Fo’an.
He will also meet Singaporeans in the Chinese capital.
In April, Singapore and China upgraded bilateral relations to an “all-round, high-quality, future-oriented partnership”, ushering in a new phase in diplomatic ties.
Mr Wong will be accompanied by Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo and Minister for National Development Desmond Lee.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Maliki Osman, Acting Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State Sim Ann, Minister of State Low Yen Ling, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Rahayu Mahzam, as well as senior officials from the various ministries and agencies, will also be in the delegation.
Mr Gan, who had arrived earlier in China, co-chaired the Investment Promotion Committee meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, on Dec 4.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Trade and Industry issued that same day, the ministers agreed to deepen economic cooperation in areas of mutual interest, and noted that progress has been made in the areas of digital economy and green development.
“The digital economy and green economy are important growth areas that hold strong potential for collaboration between Singapore and China... both sides have identified new and concrete initiatives that can benefit our businesses and people,” Mr Gan said.
During 2022’s JCBC in Singapore, co-hosted by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and then Vice-Premier Han Zheng, both countries concluded 19 agreements, the most in recent years. They were in areas ranging from green financing to digitalisation to innovation.
