singapore

Why Singapore?

Singapore tops the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking. It has stable political conditions, first class infrastructure, and a well educated workforce. Being one of the most open economies in the world, Singapore is an ideal base to access the regional market, first and foremost SE Asia, but also across Asia-Pacific, including China and India.

The UK will secure further market opportunities in Singapore through the EU-Singapore free trade agreement.  The 8th round of negotiations took place in October 2011 and the agreement is targeted to be concluded by end 2011. Financial and legal services as well as the growing market of environmental services and public procurement are key priorities. 

In October 2011, the UK and Singapore also inked an Economic & Business Partnership agreement which sets out the framework for collaboration between the two countries in three broad areas: business collaboration, R&D collaboration, as well as policy exchanges.  A key area that has been identified is collaboration between UK and Singapore companies to tackle business opportunities in third countries, including China.

Key sectors of opportunity

All Advanced Engineering - In 2010 the Economic Development Board reported that 71% of manufacturers plan to invest in plant and machinery in the next 12 months while manufacturing output is to increase to £70 billion. Output of the precision engineering cluster expanded on a year-to-date basis was 36.7% higher than the same period a year ago.

Biomedical Sciences - The second-largest manufacturing cluster, Singapore aims to grow its output from £10.5 billion in 2009 to £12.5 billion by 2015. Opportunities abound across the full spectrum from R&D to commercialisation.

Creative Industries - Singaporean Government has earmarked £500 million to achieve the mission of developing Singapore as a global city and a creative economy. A cumulative total of £700 million worth of private funds is already anchored in Singapore, covering the television, film, games, animation and distribution sectors.

Defence and Security - With one of Asia's best-equipped militaries, Singapore has raised its national defence budget by 5.4% in 2011 to £6 billion (US $9.5 billion).

Education and Training - The Singapore Government will spend £1.25 billion over the next 5 years to build a comprehensive Continuing Education and Training system to help workers develop competence at different stages of their lives. A total of £550 million will be spent on three phases of schools upgrading. Phases 1 and 2 – to build 11 new primary schools and upgrade 37 existing schools – are already underway, with Phase 3 - to give enhanced sports and performance facilities to forty primary schools – will take place from end 2012.

ICT - Singapore ranked first in the 2011 Waseda e-Government Ranking for the third year running and also clinched the second spot in the Global Information Technology Report, an annual ranking of how well global economies use ICT to further growth. For FY 2011, the estimated Government procurement for infocomm services is expected to reach £2.2 million and the total size of Singapore’s IT market is expected to increase to nearly £5 billion in 2015, fuelled by Singapore's Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network rollout.

Infrastructure Development - The Building & Construction Authority forecasts demand at around £11-14 billion, with an estimated total of 283 construction tenders and 253 consultancy tenders expected in 2011. Government spending £30 billion over the next 10 years on improvements to the rail network, doubling the network to 280km, with new lines.

Financial Services - Singapore is ranked fourth in the world for financial services by the Global Financial Centre Index and has more than 500 local and overseas financial institutions.

Oil and Gas – Singapore is one of the world’s top-3 export refining centres and could soon see the development of its 4th world-scale refinery, which will further boost its position. It is also the third largest oil trading hub globally. Singapore has embarked on the construction of a major LNG terminal and is developing new storage infrastructure.

Water - Singapore appointed an Expert Panel on Drainage Design and Flood Protection Measures in June 2011 to review flood protection measures that will be implemented in Singapore over the next decade. This involves an assessment of Singapore’s current drainage infrastructure, topography of flood prone areas, projected weather patterns, current and future building plans, information systems and potential new technological solutions.