Distinguished Guest of Honour
Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister & Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies Mr Heng Swee Keat
Singapore’s Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Health & Ministry of Manpower, Dr Koh Poh Koon
Former Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, Dr Chen De Ming
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Singapore, Mr Hong Xiaoyong
OCBC Bank Group CEO, Ms Helen Wong
Fellow Business China Board Members, award Judging Panel
Dear Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen
Good Afternoon!
Firstly, let me extend my warmest welcome to all 150 guests joining us physically, our virtual guests dialling in from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and the 100 guests gathered at Guangzhou’s event.
Thank you for joining us at the 2021 Business China Awards. I would also like to express my appreciation to DPM Heng and SMS Koh, for taking their time to grace the event, and to speak to us at the panel discussion.
Since its inauguration in 2010, the Business China Awards have been conferred to 27 outstanding individuals as well as organisations.
They have made sterling contributions to Singapore-China relations through promoting economic as well as cultural exchanges.
As the Awards enter the tenth edition, it is an opportune time to review the milestones achieved in the past decade of Singapore-China relations.
In October last month, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke with President of People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping and both parties reaffirmed the strong ties between Singapore and China.
President Xi pointed out that as close neighbors and partners, China and Singapore understand and trust each other politically.
The two sides move ahead with the times through cooperation and learn from each other through exchanges.
In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the two countries have stood by each other to overcome difficulties and pushed forward bilateral cooperation despite difficulties, demonstrating the vitality and resilience of relations between the two sides.
PM Lee hopes to maintain personnel exchanges with China, tap on various potentials, and expand practical cooperation in the digital economy, green development, green finance, climate change and other fields.
Singapore’s longstanding and substantive relationship with China are the fruits of labour of both governmental collaborations, as well as the hard work of countless private enterprises, civil organisations as well as individuals.
These organisations or individuals came from traditional industries such as manufacturing, services, shipping, urban development, and yet others came from cultural as well as academic institutions.
The accumulated number of Business China recipients while small, are representative.
Their contributions reflect both countries’ social economic needs at different stages of their development.
Their stories are not only a reflection of the era, but are also advancing with the times and heralding the future.
The world is facing numerous uncertainties today; the ongoing pandemic, stagnation of multilaterism, rapid development of technology, widening of the rich poor divide, threats from climate change, protectionism on the rise.
International cooperation has never been so important before.
How should search for calmness in this state of constant change so that countries live harmoniously and develop together, and our people could lead happy and stable lives, is what concerns everyone, and looking forward, how could Singapore and China strengthen our cooperation?
On the global stage, how could both countries actively play our parts in the regional economy and international society?
These are some pertinent questions that I hope to discuss with everyone present today.
The success of Business China Awards over the past 10 editions is attributed to everyone’s support and encouragement.
First of all, I would like to thank the judges for their work behind-the-scenes and selecting the winners in this tenth edition of Business China Awards after numerous rounds of discussions.
I would also like to thank OCBC Bank for supporting this award event since its inception.
Let me sincerely congratulate all the candidates for this year’s awards.
Their achievements are extraordinary, and they are our role models.
Finally, please let me offer my heartiest congratulations to this edition’s winners.
I wish that all of you continue to shine in your respective fields, adding new chapters to and achieving greater heights in the thriving Singapore-China relationship.
Thank you everyone!