English

Singaporean companies on Friday expressed continued interest in cooperating with China's Guangdong Province at a bilateral meeting here, especially with a strong Singapore-Guangdong partnership on innovation and development of the Greater Bay Area.

Ong Ye Kung, Singapore's Minister for Education and Ma Xingrui, Guangdong Governor, Co-Chairmen of the Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council (SGCC), officiated at the ninth SGCC meeting in Singapore.

Singapore companies signed 14 agreements with Chinese partners, in areas ranging from smart city services and transport, education and training to professional services.

Guangdong has been Singapore's top provincial trading partner for the last 29 years, and "we expect our relationship and co-operation to continue to grow," Ong said in his speech.

With the development of the Greater Bay Area, "we will go beyond traditional sectors to collaborate on innovation, modern services and high technology sectors like biomedical sciences," he added.

Ma echoed that a more open and vibrant Guangdong will bring about more opportunities for deepening the cooperative ties between Singapore and Guangdong.

The Greater Bay Area covers China's Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, and nine cities in Guangdong Province, including China's first-tier cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen.