China-Singapore financial cooperation shares benefits with the world

CHONGQING, China, Nov. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- China-Singapore (Chongqing) Connectivity Initiative Financial Summit (CCI-FS) will be held in Chongqing and Singapore parallelly from November 23 to 24, the Information Office of the Chongqing Municipal People's Government announced on November 15.

CCI-FS this year will be held under the theme: Deepening China-ASEAN Financial Cooperation, Creating a New Paradigm of Interconnectivity.

As a key event under the third intergovernmental cooperation project between China and Singapore, CCI-FS has been successfully held for three times. In November 2015, the China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CCI) was officially launched with financial services as one of its four priority areas. In the past six years, our vision to reduce financing cost in western China and benefit the whole world by strengthening financial cooperation between China and Singapore has become a reality.

Since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, shipping and air transportation have been hampered, however, the cargo volume along China-Europe Railway Express has instead increased despite the disruptions, a vital support to Europe in fighting COVID-19 and maintaining the stability of global supply chain.

The success of China-Europe freight train services cannot be made without CCI cross-border financing projects.

Under the CCI framework, Chongqing International Logistics Hub, where the starting terminal of China-Europe Railway Express, i.e. Chongqing Tuanjiecun Railway is located, issued bonds worth USD500 million in Singapore with lower cost than that in the domestic market. The issuance has raised funds for infrastructure construction in the hub, so that financial cooperation plays its role to create a better port terminal.

This is a miniature of successful CCI financial cooperation. Up to now, Chongqing's cross-border financing under the CCI totaled USD15.5 billion with its comprehensive financing cost 1.03 percentage points lower than domestic level, and the whole western China region has raised over USD5.7 billion in Singapore.

The benefits of CCI financial cooperation have been shared by the world.

The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) serves as a major international logistics channel between China and Southeast Asian countries. By means of railway, sea and road, goods from western China can travel southward and access the world market through coastal and border ports such as Guangxi and Yunnan, with shorter time compared with the traditional route from eastern China.

Meanwhile, the CCI cross-border financial services are empowering the ILSTC. A financial service platform jointly built by China and Singapore for the corridor provides convenient and low-cost financial services for logistics, trade and manufacturing enterprises along the route, and also empowers its operation companies.

For instance, electronic products made in the Vietnam factory of LG Group arrived in Chongqing via the ILSTC, and then were transported to Europe through the China-Europe Railway Express, thus cutting logistics duration by over a half compared with sea transportation. Likewise, Made-in-Germany goods are transported to Southeast Asian markets through the two corridors with halved logistics duration.

Therefore, the ILSTC has lowered both transportation time and service cost among China, Southeast Asian and European countries, and thus enabled related companies to better share the fruits of sustained economic growth and regional integration.

"In the past five years, Chongqing and Singapore have enhanced financial connectivity between western China and ASEAN countries through the CCI financial cooperation," said Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

"In the next five years, China and Singapore will seize new opportunities, implement the Five-Year Plan of CCI Financial Cooperation with high standards, and make new gounds in bilateral financial cooperation," said Ruan Lu, Director General of Chongqing Financial Regulatory Bureau.