Welcome address by Mr Chong Lit Cheong, CEO, IE Singapore at The LAB Forum 2009, Thurs, 12 Nov 2009, 9 am, Raffles Hotel, Singapore
Senior Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Education, Mr S Iswaran Your Excellencies Ladies and Gentlemen
1. It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to Latin Asia Business Forum 2009.
2. Now in its 6th instalment, this year’s Forum takes on added significance as it coincides with the APEC CEO Summit and the APEC Leaders Meeting. The confluence of such high-level gathering reinforces Singapore’s role as a centre of intellectual exchange.
3. Despite the busy APEC schedule, more than 200 top executives and leaders from 19 countries are here with us today, including 10 ministers from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama. In addition to the panel discussions, the Forum also provides valuable networking sessions for the participants. By the end of this week, at least 120 companies would have participated in various roundtables and seminars, planned around the Forum. More than 100 one-to-one meetings will also have transpired between Latin American delegations and Singapore-based companies from diverse sectors such as Oil and Gas, Urban Solutions and Infocomm Technology.
4. Singapore shares warm bilateral relations with Latin America. In 2008, almost 900 Singapore-based companies received assistance and information on business opportunities in Latin America. Likewise, close to 500 Latin American companies had explored business opportunities with Singapore companies. In 2008, 19 deals worth US$16 million were facilitated by IE Singapore. In the first ten months of 2009, to our delight, the figures more than doubled to 40 deals worth more than US$36 million[1]. This is very promising considering that 2009 was a difficult year worldwide.
5. Many of these deals are not confined to the traditional oil and gas sector but cut across a wide variety of industries. And even more heartening is the fact that many of these deals are driven by SMEs. These include our first success in the furniture sector in Brazil with Sunshine BLP clinching a contract to supply dining sets and barstools; SmartBridges supplying broadband network equipments to Peru; Tee Yih Jia sending its first few containers of frozen spring roll pastry and oven-ready finger snacks to Chile; and Tai Hua, securing repeat orders for its soya sauce in Mexico.
6. The increasing footprint of Singapore companies and their successes is echoed in the recent survey of Singapore companies with operations in Latin America. 80% of those surveyed indicated their Latin American operations had performed within or beyond their expectations. More than 75% also expressed optimism about growth prospects in the region, citing the low cost structure, proximity to end customers, and sizeable consumer markets as key benefits of doing business there.
7. I am optimistic that Latin America will assume greater importance for Asian businessmen and IE Singapore will continue to provide customised, in-market intelligence to support them.
8. On this note, I would like to thank our many partners and sponsors who have made this year’s Forum possible. They include the Latin Asia Business Forum Advisory Board chaired by Ambassador Giam Chin Toon; our Latin American Ambassadors and embassies for their unwavering support; and our many generous sponsors.
9. I would also like to thank SMS Iswaran for being here this morning and a very big thank you to all our speakers, panellists and delegates from overseas.
It is now my pleasure to invite SMS Iswaran to deliver his Opening Address. SMS, please.
[1] S$50,168,040 converted at 1 SGD = 0.718227 USD (XE.com on 6 Nov 2009).
