Speech by MOS Alvin Tan at the Centre for Global Business, Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) in São Paulo, Brazil

Introduction

1. Tudo bem to all of you.

2. I want to thank Professor Ferraz and his team; Luciano Mazza, who is the incoming Ambassador-Designate to Singapore; Larissa Wachholz, who is the former Special Advisor in the Ministry of Agriculture in Brazil; of course, a very distinguished gentleman, Ambassador Rubens Barbosa; as well as many of you here who are interested in Singapore; many of you here who are friends of Singapore; and many of you here who are familiar faces, thank you very much for having me as well as my team here in São Paulo.

3. Actually, this is the last day of our delegation’s trip to Brazil, but in fact, I have been here since early last week. I was in Manaus, and it only took us about thirty-six hours to travel from Singapore all the way to Manaus. I was here for the G20 Ministerial on Research and Innovation, and we had a really good discussion on areas of collaboration, and the importance of research, innovation and science between our countries as well as the countries that are represented in the G20. Thereafter, I went from Manaus, down to the historic city of Belem, for the G20 Tourism Ministers Meeting. So, I have now gotten the chance to see that part of Brazil.

4. Actually, this is my third time in Brazil. I first came to your beautiful, beautiful country as a student while I was studying in the United States. I visited Manaus before, and swam in the Amazon and I had all my toes intact – I swam with piranhas. I then visited the beautiful Foz de Iguacu, and of course São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It’s a pleasure to be back in your beautiful city.

5. Let me start with my short lecture, and I thought it would be very useful to articulate the importance of this bilateral relationship and why Brazil is important. To those of you who are interested in Singapore but, may not be quite yet familiar with Singapore, allow me to share a little bit about our small, tiny island.

Singapore-Brazil Economic Relationship

6. As I mentioned, I wanted to share about Singapore’s economic development journey towards innovation-driven growth and the potential we see for innovation collaboration and partnerships between Singapore and Brazil, not just in science and technology and tourism, but in many different areas.

7. But first, I would like to touch on MERCOSUR and the significance of the MERCOSUR-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, which Professor Ferraz has mentioned.

8. MERCOSUR is large, diverse and vibrant. It is collectively the 5th largest economy in the world, and home to 300 million people, majority here in Brazil. For Singapore, MERCOSUR is on the other side of the world. But to Singapore, MERCOSUR is also a dynamic market, representing new and untapped opportunities for trade, investment, and opportunities for collaboration for our companies in the green economy and digital innovation.

a. As the largest economy in MERCOSUR, Brazil continues to attract Singapore companies looking at opportunities in this region.

b. It is no wonder that the highest concentration of Singaporean companies in Latin America is in Brazil.

9. As many of you know, when my team and I were in Rio de Janeiro in December last year, Singapore and the member states of MERCOSUR signed the MERCOSUR-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

  a. This is a landmark agreement and the first comprehensive trade agreement between us.

b. Once in force, the FTA will establish transparent and predictable investment conditions, increase transparency for customs procedures to allow the more efficient clearance of goods, and facilitate end-to-end digital trade through inter-operable as well as common digital trade rules.

  c. It will also foster cooperation in many other important areas such as MSME development, entrepreneurship, and digitalisation, through collaborative activities and building capabilities.

d, Yesterday I was together with Shopee and SEBRAE, for their MOU signing, showing that MSME development is very important. Shopee, a Singaporean company, is now training about 500,000 Brazilian entrepreneurs. These are just examples, to show that it is not just about trade agreements, but to show that our businesses are doing something concrete.

  e. My team and I hope that the FTA can be ratified quickly and brought into effect as soon as possible, because it will benefit all of our companies.

10. The MERCOSUR-Singapore FTA is significant for both Singapore and MERCOSUR. It is not just Singapore’s first trade deal with the Common Market of the South. It is also MERCOSUR’s first FTA with a Southeast Asian country.

a. It may not have been so easy, I believe there are other discussions between MERCOSUR and other potential partners, but if you talk to Singapore we sought to do that deal quickly, we sought to do it efficiently, and we wanted to land it as fast as possible.

b. The FTA therefore is important as it establishes a clear, institutional pathway for greater trade, investment and engagement, not just between Singapore and Brazil. We are thinking bigger, we are thinking further. It is also about trade between two dynamic regions, Southeast Asia and South America. Opposite sides of the world, but if you talk to many businesses and governments, they are very similar.

  c. When I was in Manaus, it felt like the jungles of Singapore. Manaus, Singapore and Belem, when you look at the map, are at almost the same latitude.

11. There are many similarities and complementarities between our dynamic regions – South America and Southeast Asia. This will give rise to many opportunities for exchanges, mutual learning, and business opportunities.

  a. Both regions are large with rapidly growing middle class populations. That is a huge dividend that we must capture.

  b. Both regions are making significant strides in terms of infrastructure development, digitalisation, and protecting your precious environment – sustainability.

12. In fact, Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing regions in the world, and it continues to benefit from a demographic dividend.

  a. It's very dynamic and there are many differences across Southeast Asia. You'll see that Singapore is very different from Thailand, from Vietnam, from Indonesia, from the Philippines.

  b. With a population of over 670 million people and a median age of 30.4, ASEAN has a young population and growing workforce. The workforce is hungry, sophisticated and plugged into the global economy. They are one of the most connected in the world.

c. The ASEAN economy is projected to grow by another US$1 trillion by 2030, making it the world’s 4^th largest economy.

13. Like the MERCOSUR, ASEAN continues to push for deeper integration amongst its ten Member States.

a. In addition to an ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement which aims to achieve the free flow of goods within the region, we are also in the process of negotiating an ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement which would facilitate digital trade and allow our companies to tap the growth in the digital economy.

b. We have in place a number of Free Trade Agreements with Dialogue Partners, including Australia and New Zealand, China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

14. ASEAN member states are also exploring cooperation in very new domains and modalities.

  a. One example is the ASEAN Power Grid, which seeks to ensure energy security, accessibility and sustainability in the ASEAN region by integrating power infrastructure across different ASEAN countries.

b. This would include the establishment of cross-border power interconnections, to allow for the sharing of excess power capacity among ASEAN countries. So, if you are a net producer of energy, particularly clean energy, you can then export it to other countries who are energy deficient.

15. In Singapore, we are proud to be the first country in Southeast Asia with a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with MERCOSUR.

a. With Singapore, MERCOSUR has a trusted partner in this exciting Southeast Asia region, with strong connectivity to our region, and to the world.

b. We have a network of 27 FTAs in force, covering all the major world economies and our largest trading partners. This network is set to grow in the near future with the entry-into-force of the FTA between Singapore and the Pacific Alliance and, of course, we look forward to the ratification of the MCSFTA.

Singapore’s Economic Development Journey

16. Let me now share a little on Singapore’s economic development journey. It is a short one, but a very exciting one. Next year, Singapore turns 60 years old.

17. Singapore was suddenly thrust into independence in 1965. It wasn’t something we wanted to do, it was something that was thrust upon us. At the time, we were part of the broader Malaysia region, but circumstances meant that we were now alone, kicked out in 1965. We had 1.8 million people but no domestic industry to speak of.

a. Coming to Brazil, we see your vast land and resources, we are always very envious. But you can put 11,000 Singapores into Brazil. We are land and resource scarce. We had to rely on other countries for our food, energy, and water. No resources, and no hinterland.

b. In 1965, we had high levels of unemployment and poverty. Unemployment was about 14%, and half of the population was unable to read and write.

  c. My grandparents came from China. They were unable to read or write, and they were working for the British, who were the then-colonial administrators in Singapore. They were working as domestic helpers for the British. My grandfather was cleaning the toilets at the iconic Raffles Hotel, that many of you may know. In the second generation, there were my parents, who didn’t go to university. Now you have the third generation.

d. Our GDP per capita was about US$500, and if you fast forward to today it is about US$82,000.

18. When we were first thrust into independence, our first and most urgent priority was to create jobs. We focused on export-led industrialisation and attracted global MNCs to invest in Singapore to quickly provide Singaporeans with employment and technical skills.

a. I still remember that my father was one of the beneficiaries. An MNC came, they trained him and hired him. A lot of Singaporeans like my parents started to gain expertise and confidence in building the economy.

19. Over time, we slowly moved up the value chain.

a. We transitioned from a labour-intensive economy to a capital and skills-intensive one. We developed our infrastructure, built roads and metro lines, and expanded our international airport. We have four terminals. If you come to our airport now, you might be quite surprised to see a waterfall in our airport, but it doesn’t flood the airport, don’t worry. We are building a fifth terminal which would be the size of our four terminals combined.

  b. We also invested heavily in education, building new schools and facilities for our universities.

20. As many countries may also experience in their journey, in 1985, Singapore fell into a recession while the global economy continued to grow. It was a wake-up call for our tiny-island nation, which revealed the realities of why we needed to change how we structured our economy and our country. As you go up the value chain, the cost advantages start to dwindle away, and the resource constraints begin to be seen.

a. This recession was quite a turning point, because it made us rethink how we then restructure and grow our economy in a way that can be sustained for the long-term.

Singapore’s Efforts at Innovation-Driven Growth

21. We then decided we needed to change course, and to promote innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship to achieve our next phase of economic growth.

  a. We expanded our R&D capabilities in our universities and research agencies, with an emphasis on translating research into economic opportunities.

b. We scaled up platforms to drive tech translation, and we supported our companies in becoming more innovative, and offered them resources, which is why Enterprise Singapore is very important, to help them bring their products to market.

22. Singapore has been described as an improbable nation. Without constant innovation, the odds are that we will become irrelevant and disappear. Most small states in history disappear, or they get subsumed.

a. We do reclaim land, but we cannot reclaim land such that it goes into another country. These constraints are real for our small island nation.

23. Against the odds, Singapore’s innovation ecosystem continues to grow in size and dynamism. We may have made mistakes along the way, it is trial and error, but we have seen some successes.

a. In 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, or WIPO, ranked Singapore as the world’s 5th most innovative economy on its annual Global Innovation Index.

b. Our small island is now home to over 30 unicorns, 4,500 startups and 400 venture capital firms.

c. 80 of the world’s top 100 tech companies have a presence in Singapore.

24. All of this did not happen overnight. As I have briefly shared, it took decades of commitment, investment and hard work. We learnt many lessons along the way – some of them costly.

  a. But we continue to work hard at renewing and refreshing Singapore, keeping Singapore at the forefront of innovation so that our businesses can compete and thrive internationally.

Singapore-Brazil Innovative Partnerships

25. It is very exciting to see Singapore companies today thriving in Brazil and doing interesting and innovative work. I met many of them over the course of the week. Brazilian companies are doing the same in Singapore. Let me share a few examples.

CBMM (Brazil)

26. Last year, Brazil’s CBMM, a global leader in niobium products and technology, together with the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Advanced 2D Materials (CA2DM), launched an Advanced Battery Laboratory.

a. This laboratory is the most high-tech and well-equipped facility in Singapore to explore new frontiers in battery technology.

b. Together, the Centre and CBMM have developed advanced niobium-graphene batteries. These batteries significantly reduce the total cost of ownership compared to existing lithium-ion batteries, which are used in EVs now. It is because these batteries have a longer lifespan and ultrafast charging capabilities. These batteries also offer improved safety as they do not risk explosion even in high temperatures.

Braskem (Brazil)

27. Braskem, Latin America’s largest petrochemical producer and a global leader in bioplastics manufacturing. Braskem also has its Asia headquarters in Singapore.

  a. In 2021, at the height of the global pandemic, Braskem opened a new logistics hub in Singapore in partnership with global logistics player A.P, Moller – Maersk and Singapore’s PSA Corporation to reinforce its supply chains in Asia and address growing demand from markets such as China, India, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand.

  b. This development followed Braskem’s existing partnership with PSA whose Forward Hubbing Scheme has allowed Braskem to use PSA Singapore – the world’s largest container transhipment hub – as a regional distribution focal point.

SEA Limited (Singapore)

28. Let me now share two examples of Singapore companies doing good work.

29. First, SEA Limited. Many of you would be familiar with Shopee, which is a global consumer internet company founded in Singapore in 2009 with the mission to better the lives of consumers and small businesses with technology.

  a. SEA has been present and investing in Brazil since 2017 with Garena, a leading online games developer and publisher, and since 2019 with Shopee, its e-commerce platform which many of us buy a lot of stuff from.

b. Through Shopee’s Seller Education Centre, it has trained 500,000 Brazilian entrepreneurs, many of them micro and small enterprises, to do live broadcasts. More than 500 live broadcasts are carried out every day on Shopee’s app.

ProfilePrint (Singapore)

30. Then, we also have ProfilePrint. Many of you may not know them, but they are a very interesting company. ProfilePrint is an AI-powered ingredient quality fingerprint platform that can rapidly analyse food ingredients like coffee, cocoa and sugars in seconds.

a. ProfilePrint’s platform helps companies to optimise their production processes and save costs. ProfilePrint has signed commercial contracts with three of Brazil's largest food companies: Louis Dreyfus, Olam Agricola, and Sucafina.

b. ProfilePrint is able to help these companies address the challenge of quality assessment in Brazil's food ingredient supply chain, and to reduce their carbon footprint by minimising physical grading and sample shipments.

Conclusion

31. I have shared just a few examples of companies from Brazil and Singapore which are pursuing partnerships for new, cutting-edge and innovative work. I hope to see many more.

  a. This is why I have also led a delegation of Singapore Fintech companies in Sao Paulo this week – to identify potential partners and new opportunities in areas such as financial services, digital payments, and fintech regulation. Many of them are here today.

b. They have had many interesting meetings. They have interacted with Brazilian Fintechs, and I am confident that their meetings in Sao Paulo this week will lead to fruitful and mutually-beneficial outcomes. When we saw them interacting yesterday, the spark of innovation was already there.

c. I welcome more Brazilian companies to come to Singapore, and more Singaporean companies to come to Brazil to strengthen this relationship.

32. We may be very different in size. Your football is much better than ours, even though I know that yours hasn’t been quite as good for some time, ours has never been good, period – you are much better.

33. Even though we are a world apart, I think there's many things that we can share together, and I look forward to strengthening this relationship.

34. Muito obrigado and thank you very much.