Mr Lim Hng Kiang at the opening Ceremony Of Quality and Standards 2006

OPENING ADDRESS BY MR LIM HNG KIANG, MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF QUALITY AND STANDARDS 2006 ON TUESDAY 17 OCTOBER 2006 AT 8.40 AM AT MARINA MANDARIN HOTEL

Honorary speakers

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning

It gives me great pleasure to join you this morning to commemorate 40 years of Quality and Standards development in Singapore. To our overseas speakers and guests, a warm welcome to Singapore. I hope your stay with us will be fruitful, enjoyable and memorable.

Standards and conformance over the past four decades in Singapore

Singapore has come a long way in the last 40 years. Today, we enjoy good healthcare, a safe and clean environment, and hassle-free communications in Singapore. Our businesses produce quality products and services that meet world standards. These are some of the things that we take for granted today.

Yet, unknown to many, our robust standards and conformance or S&C infrastructure has played a fundamental role in making these possible. S&C is actually the infrastructure that underpins the confidence of the average consumer and man-in-the-street. Even in basic necessities like clean water, a stable electricity supply and good telecommunication networks, every stage of their production processes and distribution are subjected to quality controls that depend on standards, measurement and testing.

Over the past 40 years, Singapore’s S&C infrastructure has evolved in tandem with our economic growth. When we gained self-government in 1959, we embarked on a massive industrialization programme by attracting foreign investments. Multinational companies or MNCs from the industrialized countries were encouraged to set up production facilities and benefit from our low costs, abundant labor, and a host of economic incentives. Our open economy was a bonus to MNCs interested in establishing a base to manufacture and trade in the region.

Supporting this strategy was a need to establish standards for product performance, safety and health requirements that are internationally aligned. We needed recognition from the world so that people would come and invest and for our goods and services to be accepted overseas. To get ourselves connected in this respect, Singapore joined the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, in 1966.

The S&C infrastructure became part of an eco-system that made it conducive for MNCs to continue investing and growing their businesses here. In return, we benefited from the capital, technology and management expertise that the MNC partnership offered.

In the 1980s to 1990s, the standards and quality strategy supported the national policy to promote skill-intensive, higher value-added and higher technology industries in the manufacturing sector. To ensure Singapore was ahead of the competition, we targeted S&C programmes at improving quality, productivity and efficiency while our industries became more sophisticated. To this end, Singapore was the first in Asia to adopt and encourage companies to implement quality management systems such as the ISO 9000 series of standards.

In today’s globalized world, international confidence throughout the national standards and conformance system is a fundamental building block for market access and international trade. I am pleased to note that Singapore is well placed in the international S&C arena. A Singaporean was appointed as the president of the ISO from 1997 to 1998, and another elected to the chairmanship of the Asia-Pacific Metrology Programme from 2003 to 2004. They were the first, and so far the only, from Southeast Asia to hold those respective positions. We have also been elected to the ISO Council four times since 1992, including a successful election this year. Last year, Singapore successfully hosted the ISO General Assembly which attracted the largest turnout in ISO’s 60-year history.

In the areas of measurement and conformance, Singapore was among the first to sign bilateral and multilateral arrangements with our key trading partners to mutually recognize each others’ metrology, accreditation and conformity assessment systems. Today we have signed 14 such agreements. These mutual recognition agreements are testimonies to the trust and international recognition in Singapore’s S&C capabilities. The acceptance of test data from Singapore eliminates the need for Singapore’s products to be retested in the export markets, thereby directly lowering entry barriers and costs for our exporters.

At this juncture, I would like to mention that the success of our S&C infrastruc

ure over the past 40 years would not have been possible without the contribution of our partners. They have played key roles in Singapore’s S&C efforts. Currently some 1,500 individuals and 60 industry associations are involved in standardization and accreditation committees and technical assessments. I wish to thank everyone, past and present, for their contribution.

The importance of standards and conformance moving forward

Moving forward, S&C will lay the critical groundwork in our goal to etch Singapore into a global brand on the world map. It is a strategic enabler which enhances access to global markets for our products and services. As the landscape of Singapore’s economy changes, so must the S&C infrastructure.

Today, I am pleased to announce that SPRING Singapore will invest $50 million over the next five years to fund new initiatives and programmes under its Standards and Conformance Plan to further develop our S&C infrastructure to support our economic development.

The aim of this plan is to develop an internationally recognized, trusted and relevant S&C infrastructure to support enterprise and industry growth. We will do so through four key strategies.

Strengthen standards and conformance infrastructure

First, we will strengthen our S&C infrastructure to support key manufacturing and services clusters and capabilities. The aim is to help local enterprises comply with international standards so as to gain a competitive advantage and stay ahead in the global race. One key area is the need to ensure an appropriate level of testing and certification support in Singapore particularly in areas that are critical for exports. We will nurture testing and certification services through programmes to incentivize upgrading or the setting up of new facilities and capabilities. This could cover new areas such as nanotechnology, genetically modified organisms or GMOs and even gaming devices.

Promote greater awareness and adoption

Second, we will promote greater awareness and drive the adoption of standards. In particular, we will step up promotion and awareness programmes targeted at small and medium enterprises or SMEs to capitalize on standards to enhance their production capabilities, quality and to gain access to overseas markets.

One of the greatest challenges facing Singapore exporters today is the increased use of technical barriers to trade by countries as tariffs drop to historical lows. While international standards can help reduce such technical barriers, understanding and complying with the standards and technical regulations of overseas markets can be a daunting task for many businesses. Some may not even be aware of such requirements.

Today, I am happy to launch the new Export Technical Assistance Centre, or ETAC, which is a key initiative under the S&C Plan. Championed by SPRING in collaboration with IE Singapore and other partner agencies, ETAC will help raise the awareness and alert exporters with timely information on standards and technical regulations to enhance market access. The center will also link up exporters with domain experts to provide technical assistance to upgrade their processes where necessary in order to meet the overseas market requirements.

Strengthen international positioning

Our third strategy is to strengthen Singapore’s international presence and linkage in S&C, so as to increase Singapore enterprises’ access to global markets. This includes getting our industry players to actively participate in international S&C fora. This will reinforce Singapore’s position as a location for advanced and high-quality manufacturing and services industries.

As part of this strategy, we aim to develop Singapore into a “Standards and Conformance Activities Hub” of the region. Currently the International Electro technical Commission’s Asia-Pacific Regional Centre is housed in Singapore. We have also successfully hosted international S&C meetings such as the ISO and Asia-Pacific Metrology Programme General Assemblies in Singapore. We hope to attract other similar international and regional bodies to set up such offices or organize leading industry meetings and seminars here. Likewise, we will work towards attracting key international, testing and certification companies to set up or expand their operations in Singapore.

Enhance partnership with private sector

Underlying all these efforts would be our fourth strategy to enhance partnership with the private sector. This is necessary to achieve greater buy-in and industry adoption. Industry participation would also strengthen our position in international arenas. To achieve greater private sector engagement, SPRING will encourage greater industry ownership in standards development and promotion, and greater international presence for the industry.

This strategy will also support the government’s new initiative to share Singapore’s experience and expertise with other developing countries. As we develop a reputation for high quality and efficiency, many developing countries aspiring to emulate our systems are asking for assistance. The private sector can play an active part in providing such assistance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, standards and conformance has played a critical role in helping our enterprises and economy grow and compete. The government is committed to developing and strengthening the infrastructure as Singapore faces new challenges and greater global competition. The four strategies I have outlined above will put the S&C infrastructure in good stead to support Singapore in its next phase of economic growth.

I encourage industries and all enterprises, big or small, to leverage on standards and conformance to improve productivity, enhance quality and strengthen their international competitiveness. By working hand-in-hand with the Government, I am confident that we can succeed in the years to come.

With this, I wish all of you a fruitful discussion at the Quality and Standards 2006.

Thank you.