'SG and MY should push for greater cooperation in sustainability and a digital economy', says SG envoy

Malaysia and Singapore should work together in new fields such as sustainability, climate change, and the digital economy, extending beyond the current areas of cooperation, said Singapore’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Vanu Gopala Menon.

Menon reportedly said in his speech at Singapore’s 58th National Day reception that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries by their prime ministers focused on the digital economy, green economy and cybersecurity which represented a positive beginning.

According to Bernama, he added that Singapore is also keen to increase its participation in contributing to Malaysia’s conservation efforts. Consequently, an MoU was signed between Singapore’s NParks and the Pahang Biodiversity Council on co-operation in Flora and Wildlife Conservation earlier this year in June.

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Moreover, in a bid to improve people-to-people flows between two countries, Menon said that they expedited the immigration processes at the checkpoints between at the Johor-Bahru-Singapore link. The rapid transit link between the two is due to be completed in 2026, he said.

Moreover, Malaysia and Singapore also established a new platform to boost bilateral trade and investments between both countries. The platform, called the Annual Ministerial Dialogue (AMD) was crafted to allow neighboring countries to cooperate on digital and green economy as well as strengthen bilateral ties between both ministries.

Regarding the framework on cooperation in the Green Economy, the ministers welcomed the collaborative effort between MATRADE and Enterprise Singapore in a Capacity Development Programme for exporters, aimed at supporting exporters’ sustainability transition. "As part of the programme, there will be a series of engagements between Singapore and Malaysia enterprises to share experiences and solutions in sustainability.

The first session will focus on sustainability reporting frameworks and green financing, scheduled to be launched in July 2023," said Malaysia's Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI), Minister Zafrul. 

With intricately connected economies and strong people-to-people ties, both countries are each other’s primary trading partners. This can be seen in the revenue grossed from bilateral trade. According to MITI, bilateral trade between both countries reached US$83.53 billion in 2022, which reflected a significant growth of 37.6% from the previous year. Moreover, Singapore also stands to be one of Malaysia’s primary sources of foreign direct investment, contributing 8.3% to Malaysia’s total FDI in 2022.

Earlier this year, MITI secured a RM24 billion investment from the Republic of Korea through the trade and investment mission. Led by Minister Zafrul, a key feature of the mission was the Venture Capital (VC) Investors Roundtable which was chaired by him and participated by more than 20 Korean VC investors, who indicated interests to locate their robotics and AI-based businesses in Malaysia. There were exchanges of four MoUs which saw a few Korean VCs’ displayed their commitment to invest up to US$400 million in Malaysia.

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