SINGAPORE: It is necessary for countries to resist the inclination to look inwards among global challenges for example geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions, said Transport Minister and Minister-in-charge of Business Relations S Iswaran on Saturday (Jul 9).
Speaking at an economic conference in Italy, he noted that the world is dealing with “an unprecedented confluence of challenges”. Nations have had to deal with the impact of COVID-19 as well as the war within Ukraine.
“We are also coping with supply chain interruptions for a variety of reasons, ” he mentioned at the Les Rencontres économiques d’Aix-en-Provence, organised by the France think tank Le Cercle des économistes.
“Globally and at the individual country-level, we need to think about what is the appropriate economic plus political policy strategy that we should be adopting. ”
Laying out three areas of concentrate, Mr Iswaran said that the world should “resist the tendency to appear inwards but ensure that we maintain worldwide international connectivity”.
“This is important since when we talk about provide chain resilience, diversification is essential, ” this individual added.
The minister noted that will Singapore has embarked on free business agreements and has continuing to do so in the past two years. It concluded a totally free trade agreement with all the European Union and is ongoing to do so with many countries and regions, said Mr Iswaran.
There is also a have to deepen cooperation within growth areas like the digital and green economies, said Mr Iswaran.
Highlighting digitalisation, Mr Iswaran said it is important for businesses, the economy and people to be “plugged into” it to completely tap opportunities.
Singapore has set out on digital economy agreements and relationships with many countries, like Australia, New Zealand and Chile. It offers also initiated the dialogue with the EUROPEAN UNION.
“We want to be able to perform more of this to generate digital bridges, ” he said.