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Despite the pandemic, the managing director of the Economic Development Board, Chng Kai Fong, is cautiously optimistic about attracting good companies to invest in Singapore.
“It’s not all doom and gloom,” he told reporters over coffee at the Funan Mall on Friday. “We continue to create jobs and have a good portfolio of investment interests.”
Dressed casually in a T-shirt, jeans and a baseball cap, the 42-year-old would not look out of place among the tech companies and startups he works with.
He cited recent examples of major multinational corporations (MNCs) that have expanded their operations here: Royal Dutch Shell, which will start a pilot project at its Pulau Bukom refinery to implement advanced technology at manufacturing sites, and the Japanese construction giant Kajima, It has just started building its first overseas innovation center in Singapore.
The $ 100 million Kajima Global Hub will also serve as its Asia-Pacific headquarters.
Chng said that some companies, shaken by supply chain disruptions due to Covid-19, are looking to diversify their risk.
“There are companies that have never considered Singapore before, because they feel that we are too expensive. But now they realize that they are over-concentrated in one country.”
The Republic’s network of 25 free trade pacts helps companies not only save money from tariffs, but also anchor their manufacturing activities in Singapore and Asean, he said. “To activate some of the FTAs (free trade agreements), it is necessary that a certain percentage of product be produced in Asean,” Chng said.
But the ultimate goal is to create entry points to good jobs for Singaporeans.
These jobs, he added, shouldn’t be back-end functions that can be easily outsourced to cheaper venues.
“For example, if Facebook has ad functions here, that creates value. Having those jobs here creates a lot more opportunities.
BRIGHT POINT
Not all is pessimism. We continue to create jobs and have a good portfolio of investment interests.
MR CHNG KAI FONG, Managing Director of the Economic Development Board, on how to attract good companies to invest here.
“That is what we are trying to build in Singapore: an ecosystem of different types of jobs, a combination of multinational companies and start-ups that are in the rapid growth phase. This is how you have an ecosystem of circulation and training of talents “.
Mr. Chng emphasized that the country must not lose sight of the importance of maintaining an open policy even as the recession approaches.
In technology, for example, not all Singaporeans start out knowing how to design products for fast-moving markets that serve billions of people around the world.
Using an analogy from the Star Wars science fiction movie franchise, Mr. Chng said, “You need the Jedi Masters, because some of these (company bosses) have international experience.
“It is important to have them, otherwise you will not learn from the best or be exposed to the best.”
At the entry level, Padawans, young apprentices who study with Jedi Masters, must prepare for key leadership positions over time, he added.
“At the entry Employment Pass level, we have to make sure that the foreigners we bring in do not impede our people from having opportunities.
“And if those opportunities are in the core business of the company, that’s where they have the opportunity to shine and grow.”
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