The People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Singapore signed a memorandum to strengthen the maritime cooperation and relations between the two countries.
Minister of Transport of the People’s Republic of China Mr Li Shenglin and Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore Mr Lui Tuck Yew signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Maritime, Shipping and Port Cooperation, which provides for an expanded scope of cooperation between the two countries.
This includes shipping policy, maritime safety and security, as well as maritime research, development, education and training.
The memorandum supersedes an earlier one signed on the sidelines of the 2nd Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Transport Ministers’ Meeting (TMM) held in Chengdu, China in 2004.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by Mr Zhang Dejiang, Vice-Premier of the People’s Republic of China.
Under the memorandum, China and Singapore will cooperate to encourage the development of shipping and logistics services and share best practices in port management and application of port operation technology.
Both countries will also work together to address pollution from ships in accordance with rules and regulations developed by the International Maritime Organisation.
China’s Minister Li Shenglin commended the joint efforts made by China and Singapore in coming up with a new MOU that incorporates more areas of cooperation of mutual interest.
He expressed his firm belief that, “with the new MOU put in place, both sides will surely continue, as always, to work closely and scale up a new height of cooperative relationship by implementing those concrete collaborative activities identified in the newly signed MOU.”
Singapore’s Minister Lui Tuck Yew said he was very pleased that China and Singapore had decided to take their cooperation to a higher level by concluding this new MOU with a much larger scope and expanded areas of cooperation.
“I am confident that this MOU will enable our two countries to jointly address the new challenges ahead in the maritime and shipping arena, building on our many common interests in the maritime sector,” he said.
China’s Ministry of Transport and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore will leverage on the existing annual China-Singapore Senior Officials’ Committee Meetings to discuss and implement projects and programmes arising from the MOU.