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Singapore, Aug 18 (PTI) Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sunday said that business and trade-oriented Singapore will keep the regulatory burden to a minimum to help businesses foster innovation and manage costs amid growing global competition.<\/p>\n
In his maiden address to the prosperous city-state, Wong said Singapore has done quite well in ensuring a business-friendly environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut over time, the rules have grown, and sometimes overgrown,\u201d he said in his National Day Rally speech on August 18.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery few years or so, we have to do a thorough and proactive review of our rules and processes, and prune them back where possible,\u201d Wong said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is our next phase of economic development will get harder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are competing in a different environment,\u201d local media quoted Wong as saying.<\/p>\n
Wong said that in the past, developed countries were happy to outsource their manufacturing to cheaper locations in Asia.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople used to say \u2018invented in California, made in China\u2019 \u2013 you get the best of both worlds. That era is over.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow the slogan is: \u2018invented in California, made in the USA’.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said European and other developed countries, too, are taking the same approach \u2013 to rebuild their critical industries and to reshape global supply chains in their favour.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the developing countries are moving up as they do not want to be left behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina has its \u2018Made in China 2025\u2019 strategy. It too wants to be technologically self-reliant, and to dominate the industries of the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
These new realities have changed the global economic environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to work even harder to stay competitive and push the frontiers of innovation and productivity. That\u2019s why we are investing heavily in research and development, and in new infrastructure and technologies,\u201d Wong said, adding that the strategies were working.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve met many CEOs of multinational enterprises in recent months. They are all keen to grow their presence here. Because in this troubled world, they see Singapore as a stable, reliable and trusted partner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Singapore in the past couple of years has seen a surge in investment commitments from global players in industries ranging from semiconductors to pharmaceuticals, who are seeking to avoid intensifying trade and technology competition between global powers.<\/p>\n
However, the fourth Prime Minister of the city-state, sworn in on May 15, 2024, said: \u201cRelaxing some rules also means accepting more risks, and Singaporeans need to understand and support these changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong will oversee the review of rules and processes and see if some of them can be eased.<\/p>\n
Gan will chair an inter-ministerial review committee, announced earlier in 2024, which also consists of Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling and ministers K. Shanmugam, Chee Hong Tat, Tan See Leng and Desmond Lee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sure this will improve things, and I hope this will go some way in helping businesses, especially our SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises),\u201d Wong said speaking at the Institute of Technical Education College Central for the address to the nation.<\/p>\n
He said easing the regulatory burden and cutting the cost of doing business was part of his government\u2019s efforts to nurture and grow the spirit of innovation and enterprise in Singapore.<\/p>\n
The initiatives are also part of a major reset of policies and attitudes needed to transform the economy, which is facing new challenges.<\/p>\n
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Singapore, Aug 18 (PTI) Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sunday said that business and trade-oriented Singapore will keep the regulatory burden to a minimum to help businesses foster innovation and manage costs amid growing global competition. In his maiden address to the prosperous city-state, Wong said Singapore has done quite well in ensuring a business-friendly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-246609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}