Mr Lee Yi Shyan at the Saudi Arabia-Singapore Trade and Investment Seminar and Business-matching Session

Speech by Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry at the Saudi Arabia-Singapore Trade and Investment seminar and business-matching session on Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 9.45am at Mandarin Oriental Singapore.

His Excellency Dr Mohamad Amin Kurdi

Mr Stephen Lee

Mr Abdullah Al-Meleihi

Distinguished guests,

Let me extend a very warm welcome to all participants of this seminar, and especially to our friends from Saudi Arabia. May I also commend SBF and the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry for organizing this timely event to strengthen the growing economic linkages between the Kingdom and Singapore.

Excellent Bilateral Relations

Singapore and Saudi Arabia enjoy warm and strengthening relations. His Royal Highness Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud visited Singapore last April and met up with President SR Nathan, Prime Minister, Senior Minister and Minister Mentor. Last November, PM Lee made Saudi Arabia his first stop when he visited the Middle East, where he had a fruitful meeting with the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud and other top leaders. The leaders of both countries have expressed their desire for stronger linkages between our people and our businesses.

On the economic front, Saudi Arabia is Singapore’s largest trading partner in the Middle East. Bilateral trade hit almost S$15 billion last year and Singapore’s export to Saudi Arabia was up 67 per cent compared to 2005. Last month, an Investment Guarantee Agreement between Saudi Arabia and Singapore also entered into force. This IGA would facilitate greater levels of investments between our two countries.

We also look forward to an early conclusion of the FTA negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, of which Saudi Arabia is a leading member. We are optimistic that the FTA can be finalized next year, further bolstering trade and investments, and enhancing our attractiveness as gateways to our respective regions.

Singapore Companies Keen on Saudi Arabia

I have been to Saudi Arabia several times over the past 2 years. It was about 5 times, half the number of times Mr Abdullah Al-Meleihi’s been to Singapore this year. I learnt several things during my trips there. From the airport to Riyadh City, I saw many new retail malls springing up. I learnt that Saudis like the color green and water features in all their nice places. From the briefings by Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), we also learnt the various new initiatives to build half a dozen economic cities around the Kingdom and that its GDP grew 4.3 per cent in 2006 and is expected to rise to 4.8 per cent in 2007.The World Bank has also upgraded Saudi Arabia’s “Ease of Doing Business” ranking from 33rd to 23rd globally ahead of France and Spain. I believe all these reflect the many renewed efforts by SAGIA and the Saudi government to simplify the business environment in the Kingdom to achieve global competitiveness.

There are many opportunities for us to ride on each other’s growth. For instance, Rotary Engineering, a construction company offering fully integrated engineering design, procurement, construction and maintenance services, formed two JVs last year – Rotary Arabia and Petro Steel. Keppel Land also recently formed a JV to develop luxury residences in Jeddah. Our architect firm RSP is doing the master-planning of the King Abdullah Economic City. Some analysts estimated that Saudi Arabia will spend close to a trillion US dollars on infrastructure and oil and gas related projects in the next 10 years. SAGIA also told us that they have plans to build 10 new world-class industry clusters in the next 10 years, its 10 by 10 strategy. All these suggest that the Kingdom is diversifying its economy, and they are changing fast.

Singapore as a Gateway to Asia

As we encourage Singapore companies to consider investment and trade opportunities in Saudi Arabia, we also welcome Saudi businesses to use Singapore as a gateway to tap the fast growing markets in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Let me give a brief update to our friends from overseas on the Singapore economy. The Singapore economy continued its growth to reach between 7.5 to 8 per cent for 2007. The recent announcements on the large projects we have attracted to Singapore included the US$6.3 billion Renewable Energy Corporation’s (REC) solar cell project, Exxon Mobil’s US$4 billion petrochemical complex and Novartis’ US$700 million bio-medical project. On the tourism front, the two US$4 billion Integrated Resorts are under construction in Marina Bay and Sentosa respectively. Therefore, Singapore remains attractive as an investment destination for high tech manufacturing, tourism projects, real estate development and iconic developments.

As we speak, the ASEAN Summit is being convened. Singapore is strategically located in ASEAN‘s 550 million people market. With our ASEAN partners, we are working towards an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.If we include ASEAN’s two giant neighbors, China and India, we are talking about a market of 3 billion people linked by a web of Free Trade Agreements. Within 7 hours, our planes reach Jeddah to the West and Beijing and Tokyo to the East. Singapore is well situated to serve the growing markets of the Middle East and East Asia.

Singapore is also home to 7,000 multinationals with headquarters functions in Singapore. There are also 2500 Chinese and 3000 Indian companies operating in Singapore. We like to welcome more Saudi companies to establish themselves here. They will certainly add to the vibrancy of our business community.

Conclusion

On this note, let me congratulate SBF and CSCCI for successfully organizing the 2nd Meeting of the SSBC.I wish all of you a fruitful day ahead and hope you enjoy your stay in Singapore.