预算辩论 · 2025-03-06 · 第 14 届国会

贸易与工业预算辩论摘要

Committee of Supply – Head V (Ministry of Trade and Industry)

AI 安全与伦理AI 经济与产业AI 与教育AI 基础设施与研究 争议度 3 · 实质辩论

议员质询了地缘政治紧张对新加坡经济的潜在影响，特别是贸易保护主义和关税战的风险。政府回应指出全球多边自由贸易体系受压，贸易战可能扰乱供应链，影响投资和经济增长。核心争议在于如何应对外部不确定性及国内资源限制，保障经济持续发展。

关键要点

  • • 全球贸易体系受压
  • • 贸易战扰乱供应链
  • • 国内资源紧张挑战
政府立场

坚持开放经济与长期规划

质询立场

关注预算削减与风险应对

政策信号

强化经济韧性与开放合作

"Our economic success did not happen by chance. It was the result of a combination of factors."

参与人员（11）

完整译文（中文）

Hansard 英文原文译文 · 翻译日期：2026-05-02

【（程序文本）第五部分（续）——（程序文本）】

【（程序文本）恢复辩论问题[2025年3月5日]，（程序文本）】

【（程序文本）“将预算第五部分的总拨款减少100元。”——[梁荣华议员]。（程序文本）】

【（程序文本）问题再次提出。（程序文本）】

中午12时17分

主席：副总理兼贸易与工业部长颜金勇。

贸易与工业部长（颜金勇先生）：主席，首先感谢各位议员提出非常建设性的意见和建议。2024年是相对较好的一年。国内生产总值（GDP）增长了4.4%，而2023年为1.8%。核心通胀率从2023年的4.2%降至2024年的2.7%。

今年，我们庆祝新加坡建国60周年。我们在建设一个强大、创新和充满活力的经济方面走过了漫长的道路。我们为新加坡人创造了良好的机会，改善了他们的生活。我们的经济成功不是偶然的。这是多种因素的结合结果：谨慎的长期规划；持续的基础设施投资；保持亲商环境；最重要的是，投资于终身教育和培训，同时保持对人才、贸易和投资的开放。

几代新加坡人共同努力，为我们的经济打下了坚实的基础。但各位议员也清楚，我们现在正进入经济旅程的新篇章，面临前所未有的新挑战和机遇。

梁荣华议员询问了地缘政治竞争可能带来的逆风。

先生，多边自由贸易体系近年来承受巨大压力，面临破裂的风险。各位议员可能听说过美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的新关税及其计划征收更多关税，包括对贸易伙伴实施互惠关税，以匹配美国出口的关税。中国和加拿大也以自己的关税作出回应。这可能导致关税的升级、以牙还牙的循环，甚至更糟，爆发全球贸易战。这可能颠覆以规则为基础的全球经济秩序，而新加坡作为一个小型开放经济体，正依赖于此。

鉴于我们对任何美国进口商品不征收关税，而美国对我们存在贸易顺差，我们可能不会直接受到互惠关税的重大影响。然而，关税上升和贸易战可能导致供应链中断，减缓全球贸易，推高企业成本，从而影响企业和消费者。从长远来看，这也会影响信心和投资流动，减缓全球经济增长。

许多国家不再寻求与合作伙伴实现双赢机会，而是激烈竞争投资并保护本国行业。这将使我们的外部环境更加严峻。

在国内，我们还需要应对更紧张的限制，尤其是我去年提到的土地、劳动力和碳排放方面的限制。预计未来几年本地劳动力增长将继续放缓。土地有限，我们需要寻找新方法最大化空间利用。为应对气候变化，我们需要在扩大产业的同时减少碳足迹，满足日益增长的能源需求。

尽管如此，情况并非全是悲观。在这些挑战中，仍有机遇。亚洲经济将继续增长，预计到2030年，东南亚将成为世界第四大经济体。人工智能（AI）、数字化和低碳转型也将为数字经济和绿色经济带来新机遇。新加坡还可以利用生产和供应链的转变，吸引新投资，巩固我们作为重新配置贸易流关键节点的地位。

总体而言，我们可以保持谨慎乐观。预计今年经济将增长约1%至3%，通胀保持温和，核心通胀约为1%至2%，除非发生重大干扰。

梁荣华议员问我们是否能实现更快增长。我们当然会努力，希望能比预测的增长更快。

去年，我谈到了四大战略以促进增长，即发展经济；释放资源潜力；转型企业；以及国际连接。这些战略依然适用。我将谈谈如何发展经济，我的同事们将详细说明其他战略。

先生，我们将通过四种方式发展经济：（一）加强与区域及全球的连接；（二）通过创新培育强大企业；（三）营造亲企业环境；（四）投资于人才。

我先从连接谈起。

朱德民议员、陈佩玲女士和萨克提安迪·苏帕特议员询问新加坡如何加强区域贸易关系。

作为商业枢纽，我们的成功依赖于与区域及全球保持良好连接。首先，我们在深化与邻国的整合与合作方面取得进展。今年，我们与马来西亚签署了柔佛-新加坡特别经济区（JS-SEZ）协议。这将使我们这里的企业能够利用柔佛的资源进行扩展和发展。JS-SEZ还将通过结合双方互补优势，提供更具吸引力的价值主张，吸引新加坡和马来西亚的投资。

我们已看到JS-SEZ的强烈商业兴趣。新加坡工商联合会上月组织的柔佛巴鲁商务考察团吸引了来自180多家新加坡企业的230名代表。我们还将继续加强与印度尼西亚的现有合作，特别是在巴淡、民丹和卡里蒙，并探索新的合作领域。

其次，我们将继续促进数字贸易，改善我们在东南亚国家联盟（ASEAN）运营企业的市场准入。今年，我们正取得实质性进展，力争完成东盟数字经济框架协议（DEFA）的谈判。这将加速东盟数字经济的发展。

我们还计划今年完成并签署东盟货物贸易协议（ATIGA）的升级版谈判，这将促进东盟内部贸易，强化区域供应链连接，借助亚洲经济增长。

在深化连接的同时，我们希望培育新加坡企业成为区域或全球领导者。我们也寻求吸引全球行业领导者落户，增强产业生态系统，惠及本地企业并提供优质就业。

如傅美霞女士和尼尔·帕雷克议员所指出，创新是经济增长的核心。例如，过去几十年，我们成功打造了强大且具竞争力的半导体生态系统，巩固了新加坡作为全球半导体供应链关键节点的地位。但要保持半导体强国地位，我们必须投资研发，推动行业内创新，不仅是大型企业，也包括中小企业（SMEs）。

半导体制造设施通常需要大量前期投资。企业，尤其是中小企业，可能在研发和试点生产中面临获取半导体基础设施和专业知识的挑战。为支持他们，我们于去年4月在科学技术研究局（A*STAR）成立了国家半导体转化与创新中心（NSTIC）。

NSTIC为平面光学和硅光子领域的企业和研究人员提供半导体研发基础设施。企业还可利用NSTIC的原型设计和小批量制造能力，加快产品上市和规模化。

为此，A*STAR将扩大NSTIC的覆盖范围，涵盖更多半导体技术并提升产能。我们将投资约5亿新元，在JTC纳米空间@淡滨尼建立NSTIC（研发晶圆厂），一座新的国家半导体研发制造设施。

NSTIC（研发晶圆厂）将初步聚焦先进封装，这是半导体行业的关键增长领域。它将提供最先进的洁净室基础设施和工业级设备，以及转化研究和制造专业知识，支持研发的规模化和转化。

全球主要半导体企业以及中小企业和初创公司都可利用其能力，甚至促进新合作。例如，本地中小企业NexGen Wafer Systems为全球芯片制造商供应湿法蚀刻和清洗设备。该公司曾在海外开展研发，以便获得当时新加坡无法提供的工具和设施。通过利用A*STAR的研发能力和设施，NexGen在新加坡开发了新的半导体设备功能和应用，用于制造不同类型的芯片。因此，他们发现将部分研发活动带回新加坡具有价值。

NSTIC（研发晶圆厂）将扩大我们的能力，使类似的中小企业及更广泛的半导体行业能够建立新能力，开发并商业化具全球竞争力的技术，为新加坡人创造优质就业。

我们的研发努力还使我们能够培养出强大的有前景且创新的初创企业。例如Lucence，是A*STAR的衍生企业和本土初创公司。Lucence专注于精准肿瘤学，与国家癌症中心合作开发LiquidHALLMARK检测，指导肿瘤治疗选择。借助企业新加坡的支持，Lucence实现了其实验室自动化，服务新加坡、香港和东南亚客户。今年，它与梅奥诊所实验室合作，推动其技术在美国的采用和商业化。

如今，新加坡还拥有许多深科技公司。其中之一是量子技术中心的初创企业Entropica Labs。Entropica Labs与全球量子计算硬件领导者及基础设施提供商合作，如亚马逊网络服务、微软和Xanadu，推动量子技术市场化。

中午12时30分

我们希望通过全球创新联盟（GIA）在关键创新中心的节点做更多工作。我们帮助企业利用海外创新网络和市场机会。Carecam是一家专注于过渡护理和高级筛查的数字健康初创企业，参与了GIA旧金山加速计划，并与美国一家企业合作，将其解决方案整合到新业务实体中，支持公司拓展美国医疗保健市场。

我们希望支持更多像Carecam这样的初创企业，加快其产品上市速度，促进产品商业化。我们将加强GIA，支持不同成长阶段的初创企业。GIA Discovery将帮助初创企业熟悉市场，评估产品与市场的契合度，以制定市场策略。随后，初创企业可在新市场试点其技术，借助GIA概念验证支持验证产品并获得市场信誉。

GIA+计划将支持参与全球加速计划的初创企业，如美国的Y Combinator、MassRobotics和MassChallenge，帮助他们获得导师指导、资源和网络，实现海外扩展计划。为扩大初创生态系统，我们还希望有经验的创始人落户新加坡，建立有潜力成为全球领先企业的新事业。为此，经济发展局（EDB）将于今年晚些时候推出全球创始人计划（GFP）。

让我向各位议员预告一下。这是一个针对性计划，旨在支持来自全球及新加坡的有经验创始人的新事业。创始人是指那些建立过极为成功初创企业，或在全球公司开发过重大新产品和业务线，或在人工智能或深科技等领域取得重大科学或工程成就的个人。GFP体现了我们对开放力量的信念。我们希望将全球最优秀的人才引入新加坡，增强自身实力。我们希望支持能够且愿意创新和成长的企业。我们将营造充满活力的创新生态系统，帮助企业保持竞争力，为新加坡人创造高价值就业机会。

制造业是我们经济的关键支柱，占GDP近20%，是生产力增长的最大贡献者之一。它还支持金融和专业服务业的发展。

我想向梁荣华议员、李显龙议员、陈洁仪女士、陈佩玲女士和萨克提安迪·苏帕特议员保证，我们将继续鼓励领先制造商在新加坡投资创新，同时吸引新的高绩效企业在新加坡发展。

去年十月，我出席了KLA在新加坡新制造设施的奠基仪式，该设施将生产其最先进的晶圆几何和缺陷检测工具。KLA的新设施预计将创造至少400个就业岗位，涵盖机械设计、材料和产品测试等领域。它还将为本地企业提供与KLA在精密清洗和用于光学组件的金属零件制造等细分领域合作的机会。

例如，本地中小企业Alantac Industrial Services与KLA共同开发了满足严格清洗要求的缺陷检测工具精密清洗解决方案。通过支持我们在新加坡的高绩效企业，我们希望提升整个产业生态系统的能力和水平，包括本地中小企业。

李显龙议员和谢国民议员询问贸易与工业部（MTI）如何支持企业全球扩展的融资需求。政府过去五年已投入超过18亿新元于股权投资基金支持企业成长；但我们仍有空间加强股权和债务融资工具，更好支持企业多样化的增长战略。

首先，我们将推出长期投资基金，投入超过2亿新元政府资本，投资期限超出典型的三至七年时间范围。此举满足那些具有更长、更复杂成长轨迹、需要更长时间充分发挥潜力的企业需求。

其次，我们将设立10亿新元的私人信贷增长基金（PCGF）。与传统债务不同，私人信贷灵活满足快速扩张企业的特定需求。与股权不同，私人信贷允许企业和创始人保留业务所有权和控制权。PCGF针对具有强劲增长潜力、能成为各自行业领导者的本地企业。有些企业需要定制融资方案支持其独特增长战略，如国际并购或大型海外资本投资。这些方案在亚洲传统融资渠道中可能难以获得。

除政府注资的10亿新元外，我们希望随着更多基金经理和投资者熟悉并信心增强，催化更多商业资金进入该领域。

我之前谈到亲企业环境的重要性。去年国庆集会上，总理也强调我们需确保商业友好环境，尽量减少监管负担。去年，我主持成立了亲企业规则审查跨部委委员会，审视规则并简化监管，助力企业快速抓住机遇。

自那以来，我和其他部长已与14个行业的140多位商业领袖交流。感谢所有利益相关者的支持和反馈。企业领袖指出审批时间、执照续期频率和重复流程是主要改进点。委员会认真研究了反馈。虽然我们将针对行业具体反馈采取措施，资政部长刘燕玲稍后将详细说明，政府将设立三项承诺声明，指导全政府努力提升监管灵活性，减轻企业合规负担。

第一，所有相关机构将公布业务监管申请的服务标准，为企业提供更明确的预期。我们将努力将服务标准简化至30个工作日或更短（如可行）。

第二，我们将尽可能将常规营业执照的有效期延长至至少三年，目标是五年。这将为企业，尤其是实施长期增长计划的企业，提供更大确定性。

第三，政府将继续简化监管流程，尽可能实现并行审批而非顺序审批。我们还将简化跨机构的信息请求。我们在建筑环境领域取得了良好进展，开发了CORENET X作为跨机构建筑工程审批的一站式数字平台。我们应借鉴此经验，将同样方法应用于其他领域。

最后，我们正在加大对人才的投入。归根结底，我们追求经济增长，是为了让新加坡的未来一代能够继续为自己创造更美好的生活。因此，这种增长必须转化为新加坡人提升职业发展和充分发挥潜力的真实机会。

终身学习对于员工提升自我、承担更高薪职位至关重要。例如，我们与新加坡科技学院合作开设了继续教育与培训（CET）学位课程，旨在提升制造业在职文凭持有者的技能。

这也将帮助企业培养和留住本地制造业人才储备，增强业务连续性。陈志荣部长将分享更多内容。我们还将加强培养更多新加坡全球领导者的举措。去年，我们启动了全球商业领袖计划。同时，我们推出了新加坡领导者网络（SGLN）奖学金，旨在装备有志于担任区域及全球领导职务的管理人员。

首批60名奖学金获得者之一是Cammy Loh女士。Cammy于2014年加入全球领先的独立罐区储存公司Royal Vopak，担任新加坡销售经理。如今，Cammy已成为Royal Vopak泰国罐区码头的副总经理，联合领导一支超过120名员工的团队，管理曼谷附近最大的海运物流码头之一。这对她的职业和个人发展都是重大飞跃。通过SGLN，Cammy获得了在曼谷胜任此职位所需的技能和知识。

我们为Cammy高举新加坡旗帜感到自豪。我们正在加强SGLN，以更好地支持像Cammy这样的更多新加坡人。人力部（MOM）将对此作进一步阐述。

这些教育和培训举措需要时间见效，我鼓励企业及早开始，主动规划培养新加坡人才，从而受益于强大的人才和领导力储备。

主席先生，我们确实正进入未知领域。事实上，我认为我们已经身处未知领域。未来数月乃至数年，我们将面临经济不确定性和各种冲击。挑战与机遇并存。只要保持对贸易、人才和投资的开放态度，并维持亲商环境，我们就能自信地迈向下一阶段的经济发展。

我们必须通过创新进一步强化竞争优势，加深与区域及全球的融合，投资建设强大的企业和技能型劳动力。这是我们在日益不确定且不利的外部环境中谋生和立足的方式。

通过这样做，我们将保持经济持续运转，保持经济强劲、充满活力和韧性，为新加坡人创造更好的就业和机会，为新加坡未来60年及更长远的发展奠定基础。[掌声]

贸易及工业部第二部长（陈志荣博士）：主席先生，新加坡面临日益增长的压力。我们的人口迅速老龄化，同时人才竞争日趋激烈。我们在土地和碳排放限制下，面临更激烈的投资竞争。

为应对这些挑战，我们将通过四大战略扩大资源潜力。第一，能源结构脱碳。第二，投资于我们的劳动力。第三，持续投资于科研和创新。最后但同样重要的是，提高土地生产力。

我先介绍我们的脱碳工作。新加坡承诺于2050年实现净零排放。正如资政张志贤所言，新加坡是气候现实主义者。气候行动的时间表由自然决定，而非地缘政治发展。此外，我们的脱碳举措是企业投资决策的重要因素。我们有责任为子孙后代坚持这条道路。

跨境电力贸易对实现气候目标至关重要。我们正推动首批获得有条件许可证的电力进口项目，争取最终投资决策。这些项目是双赢合作，为区域内建立东盟电网奠定基础。它们创造就业，支持源国新投资。鉴于我们取得的实质进展，我们已将进口目标从2035年的4吉瓦提升至约6吉瓦。

同时，我们将最大化国内太阳能潜力。正如资政张志贤也提到的，我们提前完成了2025年1.5吉瓦峰值（GWp）的部署目标。这使我们有望实现2030年至少2吉瓦峰值的目标。超过2吉瓦峰值的扩展具有挑战性，但我们将继续鼓励屋主和建筑业主安装太阳能板，推动国内部署的边界。例如，新加坡民防部队（SCDF）与行业利益相关者合作，包括通过商业竞争力行动联盟（AfA），简化监管流程。

12点45分

简化流程免除了超过一半金属屋顶建筑太阳能光伏（PV）安装的防火隔离要求，使符合条件的建筑业主可节省高达30%的总建设成本。

仅靠电力进口和太阳能不足以实现净零排放。我们需要探索所有可能的脱碳路径。核能，尤其是先进核反应堆，是我们认真研究的潜在部署选项。

现在，我明确回应沙拉尔·塔哈先生和陈洁茵女士的问题。我们尚未做出部署决定，因此谈论潜在地点、成本和具体计划为时过早。但当前重点是加快核安全和先进核技术能力建设。我们正在培养更多核科学家，例如通过核科学与工程研究生奖学金。

我们也在加强国际合作。去年，我们与美国签署了实质性民用核能协议。这补充了我们与国际原子能机构（IAEA）、法国放射防护与核安全研究所以及阿联酋核能公司等合作伙伴的持续合作。

萨克蒂安迪·苏帕特先生询问了我们的氢能计划。氢能确实有潜力成为未来低碳燃料，尽管目前采用成本高昂且存在技术挑战。近期，我们同样聚焦能力建设。能源市场管理局（EMA）和新加坡海事及港务局（MPA）计划于今年底确定一名主导开发商，开展使用氨气发电和海运加注的试点项目。

我们还在探索辅助方案以脱碳难以减排的行业。碳捕集与封存（CCS）技术发展迅速。我们将与排放者及潜在服务提供商合作，发展CCS价值链，并与拥有适合地质封存场所的国家合作。2024年，我们与印尼签署了意向书，2025年与马来西亚签署了谅解备忘录（MOU）。

爱德华·谢亚先生和陈佩玲女士询问了碳市场举措的最新进展。正如资政张志贤提到的，新加坡刚与不丹签署了实施协议，此外还有与加纳和巴布亚新几内亚的协议。这些协议建立了符合我们环境诚信标准的第六条款碳信用转让框架。贸易及工业部今年晚些时候还将发布采购符合第六条款标准碳信用的招标请求。

萨克蒂安迪·苏帕特指出，天然气将在我们的能源结构中继续发挥关键作用。因此，我们今年将成立电力部门中央天然气采购实体，并在本十年内完成第二个液化天然气（LNG）终端建设。这将保障我们可预见未来的天然气需求。

我们将调整能源技术和解决方案的采用速度。对于较不成熟的方案，我们将加强研究并加快商业化。

我们将拨款6250万新元支持科学技术研究局（A*STAR）开发低碳技术转化测试平台（LCT3），帮助企业将低碳解决方案推进至更接近商业开发阶段。国际和本地企业，如日本IHI公司和本地的CRecTech，已表达使用LCT3的兴趣。

对于商业成熟的方案，我们将加快部署。

正如萨克蒂安迪·苏帕特强调的，这包括为低碳未来进行重大基础设施投资。为筹措资金，我们将向未来能源基金（FEF）追加50亿新元。基金尚未拨付资金，因为基础设施发展仍处于早期阶段。但一旦关键技术和商业门槛达到，预计将有大量资金支出。

回应沙拉尔·塔哈的问题，FEF也可用于资助低碳能源基础设施部署研究，包括小型模块化反应堆所需的研究。

为更好地指导脱碳决策，A*STAR正在开发一体化模型，模拟可能的净零减排措施之间的相互依赖关系。

议员们对脱碳可能对能源成本产生的影响表达了关切。我们的目标是在实现净零脱碳的同时，确保能源安全和保持成本竞争力之间取得平衡。

对于家庭，我们将继续通过U-save回扣等措施提供支持。对于企业，我们将通过能源效率补助等计划共同资助节能投资。此外，我们将把碳税收入全部用于脱碳工作。因此，预计本十年内碳税不会带来额外净收入。

接下来谈谈人力资源。随着脱碳进程，我们将继续提升劳动力技能。这对能源密集型行业的员工尤为重要，如石化行业，他们将更受绿色转型影响。许多人已具备核心技能，可转向相邻增长领域，如特种化学品或可持续发展领域的新岗位。

我们还将通过继续教育与培训（CET）和职业转换计划（CCP）支持员工。

除绿色转型外，CET仍是应对数字化和人工智能挑战、深化新加坡人技能的关键推动力。事实上，政府2024财年在CET上的支出预计超过10亿新元。我们将继续与企业和高等院校合作，支持员工提升技能，实现更好薪酬。

一个典型例子是经济发展局（EDB）与产业界及新加坡科技学院（SIT）合作，为制造业在职文凭持有者开设电气与电子工程学位课程。该CET学位遵循成人教育最佳实践，认可先前学习和工作经验，允许学分累积至学位。学员还可访问录制课程和在线咨询，方便兼顾工作与学习。

职业转换计划也支持员工再培训和重新部署。李显龙先生会高兴得知，新加坡劳动力发展局（WSG）的CCP已支持合并后现有员工的重新部署。此外，自2024年4月1日起，WSG将合资格员工的月薪支持上限从6000新元提高至7500新元，薪资支持比例最高达90%。

即使我们培养新加坡人，也必须继续吸引能够补充本地劳动力的全球人才。我们已与印尼和越南签署协议，促进技术和创新人才交流。

与印尼的Tech:X试点项目于去年7月启动，越南创新人才交流计划的参数于2024年9月公布。即2024年7月印尼，2024年9月越南。近50家公司和50名新加坡人对两项计划表现出兴趣。我们的年轻领导者将获得更多区域经济和企业的接触机会，企业也更易获得流动人才。

总体而言，支持新加坡人和吸引全球人才的双管齐下策略，将保持我们劳动力的全球竞争力。我将在今晚人力部供应委员会辩论中详细说明我们的努力如何支持新加坡人获得良好就业成果。

第三，关于科研和创新。正如副总理颜金勇所述，我们必须继续发展以创新为驱动的经济。这就是新加坡在2025年研究、创新与企业计划（RIE2025）下投资280亿新元的原因。

傅美霞女士问我们如何推动研究转化及支持半导体和生物技术产业发展。上周，副总理王瑞杰宣布了即将推出的举措，如推进半导体研发的RIE旗舰计划和聚焦健康长寿的RIE重大挑战计划。这些举措补充了现有的研发转化平台。

其中一个平台是A*STAR的医疗技术催化器（MedTech Catapult），为本地合同制造商提供基础设施、专业知识和联系，助力其开发前沿医疗设备。我上月参加了启动活动，了解到已有10多家公司申请参与该计划。

此外，颜金勇副总理早前提到的先进封装国家半导体技术创新中心（NSTIC）研发厂房，是A*STAR即将推出的另一研发转化平台。这些投资使更多企业能够生产尖端技术，创造优质就业，保持新加坡竞争力。

2012年至2022年间，开展研发活动企业对GDP的贡献从约15%增长至24%。2021年至2022年间，研发岗位数量增长了7.6%。

针对傅美霞女士关于保障研发设施人才储备的问题，我们正引进顶尖人才，助力生态系统发展。

在2023年供应委员会辩论中，我提到过Watson教授，他持有海外网络与专业通行证（ONE PASS），担任A*STAR皮肤研究实验室及新加坡皮肤研究所执行董事。Watson教授通过与国家皮肤中心和赛诺菲合作，试验首个痤疮疫苗，深化对影响病情严重度关键生物标志物的理解，提升了A*STAR的全球声誉。

这些迹象表明我们的努力正在见效，我们将进一步加大投入。

总理在预算案中宣布，我们将通过扩展至大一北区，刷新A*STAR的生物医药研究基础设施。这项约5亿新元的计划，将从两方面强化生物医药研发生态系统。

首先，A*STAR将更靠近关键合作伙伴，如国大医学院临床社区和风险投资者，成为产业和人才的新吸引点。其次，A*STAR将重新设计其实验室和工作空间，促进不同研究所间的跨学科协作，提供更多集中管理的协作空间，实现团队间专业知识的更好整合。

A*STAR还将与合作伙伴推出新的生物制药制造项目——新加坡细胞治疗先进制造计划2.0（STAMP 2.0）和细胞治疗制造流程加速器（PACTMAN）。

1点整

细胞治疗，如嵌合抗原受体T细胞（CAR-T）疗法，已改变某些血癌治疗，并在自身免疫疾病方面展现潜力，但制造过程复杂且成本高昂。

自2019年以来，STAMP与生物技术公司合作，改进细胞治疗资产的质量检测，在新加坡开展CAR-T疗法试验，并推动新技术的许可和衍生。STAMP 2.0将基于此，开发更低成本的制造技术，生产更高质量产品。例如，缩短细胞提取、改造和输注患者的时间，即所谓的“静脉到静脉”时间。

同时，PACTMAN将开发可扩展流程，加速细胞治疗（包括STAMP开发的疗法）从实验室到临床的转化。综合这些努力，将深化我们的研发能力，推动创新驱动增长。

最后，关于土地政策。我们支持企业提高土地利用强度和生产效率。

我们将延长并加强土地集约使用津贴（LIA）计划，释放新的工业用地。未来五年获得LIA批准的企业，将继续享受15年内对全部合资格成本的税务津贴。自2026年起，我们将放宽LIA资格标准，方便企业优化空间并与相关业务整合运营。若建筑使用者和LIA受益者彼此持股超过50%，即可视为关联企业，低于现行至少75%的门槛。

JTC还将推出四项举措，为企业提供更大的灵活性。这些举措支持了企业竞争力行动组（AfA）关于商业竞争力的建议，以及跨部委促进企业友好规则审查委员会的工作。

首先，获得新租约的绿地工业用地企业，将额外获得三年的租期，以覆盖开发和建设期。这将使企业能够在开发完成后，享受租约的全部期限。

其次，表现优异的企业将有更多灵活性，以较短期限延长租约，用于渐进式业务投资。JTC将推出新的五年灵活租约延长计划（FLEXI），允许符合条件的企业在JTC的20年租约基础上，选择延长租约，最多可分两次延长，每次五年。

第三，JTC将把租约续租申请期从目前的租约到期前六年提前至十年。

最后，JTC将扩大对厂房和机械投资的定义，这是租约续租的关键标准。我们现在将认可可审计的创新、研发、数字化转型和知识产权（IP）创造方面的投资。主席先生，请允许我用中文发言。

（中文）：【请参阅方言发言】有句老话说，“富不过三代”。然而，凭借几代人的辛勤努力，新加坡已成功进入第四代。

我们作为现今一代，应秉持同样的精神，对未来的新加坡世代负责。

我今天宣布的措施将为新加坡经济的未来奠定基础。

（英文）：主席先生，结束时，让我们反思新加坡持久的精神。

60年来，我们的繁荣不是尽管有挑战，而是因为有挑战。我们资源有限，但从不缺乏智慧。资源限制促使我们创新，带领我们走到今天。未来60年及更长时间，我相信这种创新精神，正如我们今天采取的大胆举措，将推动持续增长，确保新加坡世代的充满活力的未来。[掌声]

主席：贸易及工业资深国务部长刘燕玲。

贸易及工业资深国务部长（刘燕玲女士）：主席先生，副总理颜金勇分享了我们经济旅程的下一篇章将带来新的挑战和机遇。我们具备在波涛中稳固立足的能力。

多年来，我们的企业已掌握适应、创新和变革的技能，以变得更强大。我们携手转型，实现增长，保持领先。

政府坚定支持企业的每一步转型和成长。为促进企业转型和增长，我们将：一，支持企业海外扩展；二，赋能企业转型并受益于人工智能；三，提升新加坡的企业友好商业环境，减少繁文缛节。

我们还将振兴社区，支持社区企业。

主席，新加坡的经济成功建立在与世界连接的能力上，正如李伟铭先生所指出。新加坡企业要成长，必须走出本地市场，拓展海外市场，开辟新的收入来源。

我想向Jessica Tan女士、谢伟强先生、李伟铭先生和蔡启祺先生保证，Enterprise Singapore致力于为新加坡企业提供全面和整体的支持。

2024年，Enterprise Singapore支持了2300多家公司，帮助它们通过生产力转型项目（82亿新元）、国际化项目（55亿新元）以及创新项目（8亿新元），预计年收入总增长达145亿新元。

参与国际化项目的公司预计年收入平均增长880万新元，高于2023年的770万新元。我很高兴宣布，未来我们将在这方面进一步加强支持。

首先，我们将永久将企业融资计划——贸易贷款（EFS-TL）的最高贷款额度从500万新元提高到1000万新元。我们考虑了包括新加坡工商联合会（SBF）和普华永道在内的商界反馈，满足融资需求。

第二，我们将延长国际化双倍税务扣除（DTDi）五年。计划扩展的企业可继续享受海外市场扩展和投资开发合资格费用的200%税务扣除。

第三，我们将把市场准备援助（MRA）10万新元的上限延长一年至2026年3月31日。此举回应业界反馈，许多企业在过去两三年经历疫情后重振业务，重新启动扩展计划，需要更多时间执行全球市场拓展。

除了补助、税务和融资计划，Enterprise Singapore及其合作伙伴运营广泛的海外中心网络，支持新加坡中小企业进入区域市场。

除了帮助企业拓展海外市场，我想向李伟铭先生保证，政府将加强对通过并购实现非有机增长企业的支持。

我们将扩大企业融资计划——并购贷款（EFS-M&A）的范围，涵盖目标资产收购，如知识产权和合同，无需对应股权购买。这将帮助企业获得贷款融资，收购目标企业的特定互补资产，提升增长潜力，而无需收购目标企业本身，避免承担其负债。该试点计划将持续五年，自今年4月1日至2030年3月31日。

主席，除了提供融资渠道，我们将继续支持企业采用新技术，如人工智能，因为人工智能能促进企业和劳动力转型。它使企业自动化手工业务流程，增强员工技能，提高生产力，推动创新，进一步增长业务收入。

数字发展与信息部（MDDI）将分享国家人工智能战略（NAIS）2.0的整体进展，我将重点介绍贸易及工业部（MTI）的关键产业发展工作。

首先，我们将支持更多企业设立人工智能卓越中心，加速人工智能解决方案在经济各领域的开发和部署。我们认识到企业需要访问计算基础设施、软件和咨询服务，以提升人工智能研发和产品化能力。

因此，正如总理在预算陈述中宣布的，我们推出新的企业计算计划（ECI），面向有志于在新加坡设立人工智能总部并发展团队的本地企业。数字化成熟、拥有有力人工智能应用案例及实施路线图的企业，可申请ECI。

李伟铭先生会高兴得知，参与ECI的企业将获得谷歌、微软和亚马逊云服务等云服务提供商的云计算积分和培训项目。政府还将为ECI参与者提供补助，支持其聘请系统集成商的咨询服务，帮助开发和扩展人工智能解决方案。

其次，政府将继续支持考虑采用人工智能解决方案的广大企业。

Jessica Tan女士会高兴得知，Enterprise Singapore与信息通信媒体发展局（IMDA）合作，已帮助近3000家中小企业通过生产力解决方案补助金（PSG）采用人工智能解决方案。我们将继续加强现有数字化计划，如中小企业数字化计划，加速人工智能应用。MDDI将在其部长级官员研讨会上详细介绍。

除了推动企业使用人工智能，我们还将帮助员工提升技能，利用人工智能促进职业发展。

梁荣华先生会高兴得知，我们确实深化了与产业界和高等教育机构的合作，持续提供产业相关课程和学生实习机会。人力部将分享更多关于如何支持企业重新设计岗位和提升员工技能的细节。

主席，新加坡正持续创新并灵活应对人工智能。不断追求更好的精神是我们的新加坡DNA。副总理颜金勇谈及我们的企业友好环境，这是新加坡保持吸引力和竞争力的根本品质。我们不会自满，致力于做得更多。

政府加强了与产业界的互动，征求意见，探讨如何提升新加坡的竞争力。

为此，我与新加坡工商联合会副主席李伟铭先生共同主持了去年2月至11月的企业竞争力行动组（AfA）。Neil Parekh先生也知道，AfA去年广泛与企业、行业协会和商会（TACs）接触，发布了27项关于人力、土地和监管问题的建议。

我们的政府机构认真考虑了AfA的建议。早前，您已听到第二部长陈诗龙博士介绍，JTC将落实AfA关于工业用地租期和续租的建议。

下午1时15分

2024年4月，政府成立了促进企业友好规则审查跨部委委员会（IMC），审视未来的监管体系。我感谢谢伟强先生、Jessica Tan女士，以及蔡启祺先生和李伟铭先生对IMC的提问。正如副总理颜金勇早前宣布，经过广泛审查和咨询，委员会制定了三项承诺声明，旨在简化监管流程，减轻企业合规负担。我们的工作不会止步于此。让我分享更多关于这三项承诺，提升生态系统，支持企业应对政府监管。

第一是中小企业促进企业友好办公室（SME PEO）。根据AfA建议，我去年9月宣布将在Enterprise Singapore设立该办公室，帮助企业应对监管事务。我高兴宣布，SME PEO将于今年3月26日全面运作，距今仅20天。SME PEO将与促进企业友好小组及相关监管机构合作，成为政府协调单位，汇总企业反馈，系统性改善法规。我们期待新加坡工商联合会及所有行业协会继续大力支持，成为我们的“耳朵”和中小企业的倡导者。让我们携手SME PEO，减少繁文缛节，简化流程，支持中小企业。

第二，我们将加强中小企业中心，提供更广泛的商业咨询服务和项目。目前，新加坡有10个中小企业中心，由行业协会领导。中心的商业顾问将配备新工具包，提供更优质的一对一咨询、研讨会及群组升级项目，帮助多家面临相似问题的企业采用共同解决方案。这将补充SME PEO的工作，使企业在成长需求上，包括监管问题，获得咨询支持。我们将继续与行业协会紧密合作，提升中小企业中心服务，扩大覆盖更多企业。

第三，我们将持续投资并改进数字平台，如GoBusiness门户和Enterprise Singapore的商业补助门户。我们不仅将简化许可和监管交易，还将优化补助申请流程，更好服务企业。

Enterprise Singapore通过自动化和集中处理持续提升补助处理效率。例如，生产力解决方案补助金（PSG）申请处理时间已缩短80%，从近三个月缩短至两周。我们不会停止优化本地企业的补助申请和审批流程，将继续探索利用自动化和集中处理进一步缩短处理时间。

这三大支柱——SME PEO、中小企业中心和数字化——将持续推动我们支持中小企业和企业转型与成长的努力。

主席，在减轻企业监管负担的同时，政府也关注市场正常运作必须维护消费者对商家和市场的信任。我感谢Dennis Tan先生、林瑞莲女士和杨美麟先生的提问。

针对Dennis Tan先生关于维修权的建议，维修权对环境和消费者有益，但也存在潜在弊端，如数据安全问题。我向他保证，我们将监测并评估新加坡是否需要相关立法。

我也向林瑞莲女士保证，政府现有全政府协作机制，由内政部牵头，跨部委诈骗委员会协调，专门应对刑事性质的诈骗。

贸易及工业部和新加坡竞争与消费者委员会（CCCS）定期审查消费者保护制度，确保保护消费者利益。《消费者保护（公平交易）法案》（CPFTA）为消费者遭遇不公平交易行为提供一般救济。此外，行业监管机构制定了相关行业的具体标准。

有效的消费者保护制度还需关键合作伙伴和企业的大力支持。贸易及工业部与新加坡消费者协会（CASE）紧密合作，提高消费者意识，维护其权益。我同意杨美麟先生的看法，尤其在电子商务领域，仍有更多工作可做，因为不公平行为可能呈现新颖且不易察觉的形式。

政府欢迎并鼓励企业主导行业倡议，确保为消费者营造公平安全的市场环境。我们已开始与业界磋商，未来数周将公布更多相关举措细节。

最后，让我谈谈更贴近生活的社区商铺。许多人对社区有深厚感情，社区是我们生活、工作和共享美好回忆的地方，是新加坡人集体身份的一部分，社区商铺是我们日常生活和社会结构的重要组成。

我向蔡志明先生和蔡启祺先生保证，我们正全力振兴社区。过去几年已有进展，我们将继续努力。

回顾2022年，我们启动了5000万新元的“我们的社区2025”计划，振兴社区，提升社区商铺能力，帮助它们转型、保持相关性，继续服务居民。事实上，早在2020年10月，我们已通过社区数字化计划奠定转型基础。自那时起，超过1.7万家社区商铺采用了电子支付解决方案。2022年和2023年，我们进一步扩大社区数字化计划，涵盖服务卓越、数字营销和人力资源等领域。

我们还通过2021年启动的视觉营销计划，帮助社区商铺焕新店面。参与该计划的社区商铺普遍反映，客流量和销售额均增长约20%。

新加坡的社区商铺还受益于社区发展理事会（CDC）代金券计划，自三年前启动以来，新加坡人已在约2.3万家社区商铺和小贩摊位消费超过10亿新元。事实上，今年新一轮CDC代金券及SG60代金券将再次提升社区商铺的知名度、客流量和业务。

对许多社区商铺而言，额外的曝光和知名度对业务至关重要。因此，去年我们推出了社区企业场所塑造补助金（HEPG），鼓励社区商户组织创新的场所塑造活动，包括社区参与、公共艺术装置、工作坊和主题节庆。许多社区商铺已成功申请HEPG。

其中一家是泉水熟食市场，1968年在宏茂桥开业。由欧泉水叔叔经营的鲜猪肉摊位已发展至八家，现在是一个全渠道零售业务，旗舰店位于上汤申。泉水参加了数字实践者计划（DPP）。事实上，在欧叔叔的孙子梁俊和的带领下，店铺焕新品牌，转向线上，建立网站，推广更广泛的产品线，不仅限于猪肉。短短五个月内，泉水吸引了越来越多的热心访客和潜在客户。

正如邱德明先生昨天在发言中提到的，泉水利用了HEPG（心脏地带企业成长计划）来提升其产品的知名度。他们去年九月参加了在海洋公园举行的以海滨为灵感的市场“Easty Breezy”，以及今年的农历新年集市。这两个活动都带来了更高的收入、人流量和品牌忠诚度。

事实上，凭借焕然一新的品牌、扩展的线上存在感和不断增长的产品系列，泉水的收入从2021年到2024年增长了25%，公司预计未来每年将实现20%的增长。

今天，我们想邀请所有议员品尝泉水的成功。贸易及工业部已安排在稍后的茶歇时间，在议员休息室供应泉水的烧卖、虾饺以及鸡肉蘑菇饺子便当盒，我们也为穆斯林议员做了特别安排。每份便当中为穆斯林议员预留了四个非常受欢迎的清真烤鱼包，供他们开斋时享用。希望议员们在一天结束时能喜欢这些手工制作的本地点心，这些点心是根据创始人欧叔60年前的家传秘方制作的。

像泉水这样的企业表明，政府的支持和计划帮助他们实现了转型并推动了业务增长。我们希望鼓励企业向我们的10个中小企业中心寻求帮助，开启转型和成长之旅。

鉴于这些举措的成功，我们将继续加强“我们的心脏地带2025”计划，推出新的举措，激活我们的心脏地带，从“内到外”焕发活力。

从心脏地带商铺的“内部”开始，我们将启动增强视觉陈列计划，帮助心脏地带商铺刷新店面，提升视觉吸引力以吸引更多顾客。该增强计划将为心脏地带商铺提供培训、咨询及店面改造支持。我们将合格费用总额从之前的12,000新元提高五倍至60,000新元。此外，店面改造的项目范围将更加定制化，培训主题也将增加。

从“内部”到“外部”，除了振兴心脏地带商铺的内部，我们还将振兴心脏地带社区的活动。我们将推出新的“活力心脏地带计划”，支持商会的场所营造活动和活动。他们可以在推荐的标准选项下开展小型且预设的活动，或探索举办更大规模、定制化的场所营造活动。小型且预设的活动每次申请可获得3,000新元的合格费用资助，而更大规模的定制化场所营造活动每次申请可获得最高20万新元的合格费用资助。

主席先生，请允许我用普通话说几句话。

（普通话）：[请参阅本地语言发言。]主席先生，各位议员，全球和区域经济正面临前所未有的局面，所有新加坡企业必须积极创新和转型。政府将支持企业在这些领域的转型和成长。

首先，支持国际化。其次，帮助企业利用人工智能实现转型。第三，提高监管灵活性，营造有利于商业的环境。

近年来，我们不断努力振兴心脏地带经济，促进心脏地带企业的发展。首先，政府发放了多轮社区发展理事会（CDC）购物券，鼓励新加坡人在约23,000家参与的心脏地带商铺和小贩摊位消费，总消费额超过10亿新元。通过今年新一轮的CDC购物券和SG60购物券，我们将继续帮助心脏地带商铺和小贩增加收入。

我们的心脏地带社区是我们的情感纽带。对新加坡人来说，熟悉的心脏地带商铺和小贩摊位在加深我们的集体记忆和国家认同感方面发挥着不可替代的作用。就像您稍后将享用的手工小吃，我们的心脏地带社区拥有那种熟悉的味道和人情味。

因此，我们将进一步升级“我们的心脏地带2025”计划，让社区从内而外焕发光彩，为我们的心脏地带社区注入活力。这包括启动增强视觉陈列计划，将合格费用总额从12,000新元提高五倍至60,000新元，同时扩大店铺装修范围并增加培训主题。

此外，我们将推出商会的“活力心脏地带计划”。该计划分为两部分。首先，对于较短的预设活动，合格费用为每场3,000新元。其次，计划举办较大型社区建设活动的商会可申请最高20万新元的合格费用补贴。

我们希望更多心脏地带企业善用现有计划，实现创新和转型。

下午1时30分

（英语）：主席先生，政府与我们的新加坡企业，尤其是中小企业，携手同行。无论是希望拓展海外市场的中小企业，还是着手人工智能转型的企业，或是寻求更多顾客的心脏地带商铺和摊位，我们都会支持并赋能他们的转型和成长。我们将不遗余力地在每一步支持他们。

在我们共同前进的过程中，我们邀请所有新加坡人加入我们，激活我们的心脏地带。让我们在这个SG60年支持他们，光顾我们的心脏地带商铺，参与他们的场所营造活动。让我们享受并庆祝我们充满活力且深受喜爱的心脏地带。在此过程中，我们以自豪和喜悦肯定我们的新加坡身份。

主席：贸易及工业部国务部长陈振声先生。

贸易及工业部国务部长（陈振声先生）：主席先生，全球贸易体系正面临严峻压力。正如副总理颜金勇所说，我们正进入前所未有的水域，地缘政治紧张加剧，经济民族主义抬头，供应链中断。

历史上，新加坡一直是全球贸易的门户，象征着我们新加坡河的开放、连接和适应全球潮流的国家身份。

我们的河流因水流畅通而繁荣，我们的经济通道也必须保持畅通。我们要通过连接新加坡与世界、世界与新加坡来实现这一点。

我们必须始终将世界连接到新加坡，让人流、商流和贸易流经我们的海岸。去年，我们接待了1650万国际游客，2024年前三季度的旅游收入达到224亿新元的历史新高。他们被我们策划的新颖体验所吸引。

去年我们的现场娱乐场景熠熠生辉，举办了泰勒·斯威夫特、酷玩乐队和周杰伦等国际巨星。今年，我们已有几场顶级演出，包括一月的Seventeen和上周末的邓紫棋。今年还将有更多精彩表演，包括我们的孙燕姿、KISS OF LIFE、BTS的j-hope首次个人演唱会和BABYMONSTER。

我们的会议、奖励旅游、会议及展览（MICE）业务也表现强劲。新加坡航展、亚太海事展和亚洲食品酒店展等活动均创下纪录。我去年还在世界经济论坛青年全球领袖年会上接待了年轻领导人。

作为“世界最佳MICE城市”，我们已连续21年成为亚太地区顶级会议城市。2023年，新加坡首次在国际大会与会议协会的全球城市排名中位列第二。

我们还与全球顶级知识产权合作，策划创新体验。例如，艺术科学博物馆举办了《吉卜力的世界》展览；圣淘沙名胜世界举办了《哈利·波特：魔法幻象》。我们还支持了柔佛路的路易威登X村上隆快闪店。

基于这些流量，新加坡旅游局（STB）与旅游及生活方式企业合作，探索新的机会。正如尼尔·帕雷克所强调的，我们的旅游2040（T2040）路线图愿景将推动我们优质旅游的下一篇章。STB将在未来几个月分享更多关于T2040的信息。

今年我们也安排了丰富的活动和景点。事实上，今年我们预计国际游客人数将达到1700万至1850万，旅游收入约为290亿至305亿新元。

作为议会的心脏地带导游，高文良高级国务部长谈到了为心脏地带注入活力。作为议会的旅游导游，请允许我带大家了解新加坡的新兴和焕新景点。

主席先生，我们的MICE活动依然活跃，反映了组织者和代表们的强烈商业信心。今年，我们将举办首届亚洲商务航空论坛及博览会。彭博社新经济论坛也将于十一月第五次回到新加坡。

谢家麟先生问我们如何与本地艺术从业者合作，创造真实的旅游内容。今年一月，新加坡艺术周（SAW）2025汇聚了160多个艺术活动，展出了许多本地艺术家作品。ART SG作为SAW的一部分第三次回归新加坡，汇聚了来自30个国家和地区的105家画廊。

乌莎·钱德拉达斯女士问及标志性生活方式活动，包括音乐节如何提升我们对全球人才和游客的吸引力，促进旅游和经济溢出效应。这些活动也为本地创意人才提供了展示舞台，如Kin Leonn和伊曼·范迪。STB将继续与利益相关者合作，包括国家艺术理事会（NAC），为本地音乐生态系统创造更多机会。我们将通过财政和非财政手段支持这些活动，打造多元化人才管道。我们欢迎带来强大经济效益的音乐节提案。

体育迷们，今年六月我们将举办国家篮球协会（NBA）新星邀请赛，这是亚洲首个区域青年篮球赛事。此前，我们刚刚举办了新加坡网球公开赛和新加坡斯玛什赛事。

我们的综合度假村也将推出世界级旅游产品，作为其雄心勃勃的扩展计划的一部分。2029年完工的滨海湾金沙第四座塔楼将重新定义我们的标志性天际线。

在圣淘沙名胜世界，我于2024年十一月为其新的滨水生活方式开发项目奠基，该项目将设有充满娱乐、零售和餐饮体验的新长廊。我也在三月学校假期前开放了照明娱乐的“小黄人乐园”，今年晚些时候我们将开放新加坡海洋馆，其规模是现有东南亚水族馆的三倍。

几年后，我们还将开放环球影城的新超级任天堂世界。

现在让我们从新加坡南部来到北部的万礼。继2023年鸟天堂开幕后，万礼今年将有新的亮点。我于2025年一月开放了公共万礼木板路，提供上实里达水库和中央集水区自然保护区的壮丽景观。

我们还将开放雨林野生亚洲，这是新加坡的第五个动物园，将拥有29个标志性动物物种。我几周前预览过，傅莹部长将于下周三正式开幕。还有由悦榕庄运营的万礼雨林度假村将于下月开业，融合建筑与自然，提供包括树屋在内的客房，坐落于郁郁葱葱的绿地中。明年，我们期待开放雨林野生非洲。

主席先生，这一系列新产品标志着我们独立60周年，我们的旅游业已经走过了漫长的历程。我花了大量时间与旅游业的工作人员和游客交流。我们今天享受的精彩旅游产品，是他们过去60年努力的见证。

因此，我很高兴宣布，我们的景点将推出多项优惠以庆祝SG60。我们正与新加坡景点协会（ASA）及旅游企业合作，策划SG60促销活动，包括适合家庭的套餐和折扣。

例如，滨海湾花园将推出专属的SG60奇迹花开通行证，供公民和居民享受超过60%的折扣，畅游六个即将开放的花穹顶花卉展。万礼野生动物保护区也将在五月至八月期间提供独家优惠。我们今天将在SG60网站上线这些优惠，欢迎大家预订并参观我们的景点，享受这些精彩优惠。

让我们也去乘坐邮轮吧！例如，迪士尼探险号邮轮将于十二月在新加坡启航，这是迪士尼邮轮公司首艘以亚洲为母港的船只。许多新邮轮也将停靠新加坡，包括名胜世界邮轮的星际航行者号和丽思卡尔顿游艇系列的Luminara号。

作为东盟邮轮协调员，我们正与邻国合作，开发新的航线，利用邮轮旅游快速增长的潜力，吸引更多游客从新加坡访问东南亚。我于2025年一月在柔佛与旅游部长们讨论了此事。

主席先生，我分享了我们如何通过丰富的旅游和景点产品将世界连接到新加坡。同样重要的是将新加坡连接到世界。

这就是为什么我们正在深化与全球贸易伙伴的关系。

田佩玲女士问我们如何加强贸易联系。我们的策略很简单：与贸易伙伴合作，发挥互补优势，改善市场准入，推动共同增长。这将释放更多机会，使企业、人才和资本在经济体间高效流动。

首先，我谈谈东盟。我们正加倍努力与东盟伙伴深化区域经济一体化，打造贸易、投资、资源和创新无缝流动的生态系统，使我们的区域更具竞争力。

副总理颜金勇分享了我们在东盟数字经济框架和东盟货物贸易协定（ATIGA）方面的进展，以增强区域贸易网络。除此之外，我们去年基本完成了东盟-中国自由贸易区的第二次升级，目标今年全面完成升级。

其次，我们加强与美国、中国、印度、越南和马来西亚等关键伙伴的双边经济关系。去年，我们纪念了美新自由贸易协定20周年。该协定是基石协议，仍是我们使用最频繁的自由贸易协定之一。正如陈锡联部长提到的，我们在数字经济、人工智能、供应链韧性和能源等新领域基于此基础展开合作。

与中国方面，我们的中新自由贸易协定进一步升级议定书于2024年12月31日生效。它引入了更自由和透明的贸易规则，使新加坡投资者和供应商能够更好地进入中国市场，并在中国开展业务时更有信心。

在印度，自2005年以来，双边贸易额增长了2.5倍以上，从200亿新元增至2023年的523亿新元。2024年9月，莫迪总理正式访问期间，新加坡与印度同意将关系提升为全面战略伙伴关系。2025年1月，沙马纳坦总统对印度进行国事访问，纪念两国建交60周年。访问期间，新加坡企业与奥里萨邦政府签署了多份谅解备忘录，其中包括苏尔巴纳·朱荣集团与奥里萨邦在可持续城市规划方面的合作协议。

在越南，今天新加坡是越南的主要投资者之一，我们正在为企业开拓新的投资机会，涵盖可再生能源和碳信用。这些将成为我们与越南全面战略伙伴关系升级的重要组成部分。企业新加坡和越南外商投资局还成立了新加坡单位，作为支持新加坡企业在越南投资的单一联络点。

关于马来西亚，乌莎·钱德拉达斯女士问及我们对柔佛-新山经济特区的艺术规划。我们将与马来西亚讨论艺术部门如何补充经济特区的优先领域。

我们还确保企业能够充分利用已签署的自由贸易协定，以便更好地进入全球市场，并在与自由贸易协定伙伴贸易时享受更高效率和更低成本。因此，我们去年与新加坡企业联合总会（SBF）合作举办了11场自由贸易协定推广活动，吸引了911家公司参加。

我与李显龙先生一同出席了部分活动。这些会议使我们能够为新加坡企业提供定制化咨询，帮助他们利用自由贸易协定进行出口和国际化。例如，SGProtein私人有限公司是一家植物蛋白食品制造商，通过使用东盟-韩国自由贸易协定和韩国-新加坡自由贸易协定，在韩国市场节省了8%的关税，提升了竞争力。

先生，即使我们深化与关键伙伴的关系，也必须拓宽视野。田佩玲女士和萨克提安迪·苏帕特先生问我们如何实现贸易多元化。今天，我们拥有27个自由贸易协定和43个双边投资条约，这些协议在全球范围内生效，我们还在不断努力。

首先，我们正在与距离我们稍远的地区建立合作伙伴关系，以帮助我们在全球不确定性和潮流变化中保持相关性。这是为了使我们的企业能够提升供应链的韧性，并开拓新的市场机会。

先生，我曾多次与同事一起访问拉丁美洲，推动两项贸易协定。2022年，我们签署了太平洋联盟-新加坡自由贸易协定；太平洋联盟由智利、哥伦比亚、墨西哥和秘鲁组成，合计形成了世界第八大经济体。我很高兴地分享，该自由贸易协定即将生效。

下午1点45分

我们最近还与阿根廷、巴西、巴拉圭和乌拉圭签署了南方共同市场（MERCOSUR）-新加坡自由贸易协定，目前正努力推动其批准。作为南方共同市场与东南亚国家之间的首个自由贸易协定，该协定将为我们两大地区之间更广泛的经济合作铺平道路。

我们在中东地区也开展了令人振奋的工作。2023年，我们与中东国家沙特阿拉伯建立了首个战略伙伴关系。在上个月举行的第四届沙特阿拉伯-新加坡联合委员会会议上，我们讨论了在互联互通、能源、数字经济和创新方面的合作。我们还宣布了物流和港口自动化的新合作，并启动了更新2007年生效的双边投资条约的谈判。

主席先生，我们也在加强与非洲的联系。非洲是一个广阔、年轻且快速增长的地区，潜力巨大。我也多次访问非洲。事实上，我上周刚刚在卢旺达，推进关于第6条碳信用合作、数字与人工智能以及金融科技的讨论。我还会见了许多进军非洲的驻新加坡企业，包括投资公司GenZero，该公司正在加纳、肯尼亚和南非探索碳信用项目。今年，我们将主办非洲-新加坡商务论坛，这是一个自2016年以来已连接超过5000名非洲和亚洲商业领袖的两年一度平台。[请参阅“贸易与工业国务部长澄清”，官方报告，2025年3月6日，第95卷，第159期，书面声明更正部分。]

我们还将继续拓宽在数字和绿色经济领域的贸易伙伴关系。我们正在扩大数字经济协定（DEA）的网络。数字经济协定帮助我们融入全球数字经济，增强数字贸易流通。通过数字经济协定，我们与其他国家合作，建立关于个人数据和在线消费者保护等问题的规则和标准，使我们的企业能够利用跨境数字服务。

我们已有四项数字经济协定生效，并正在扩大网络。去年，我们完成了欧盟-新加坡数字贸易协定，并正在与欧洲自由贸易联盟谈判数字经济协定。

先生，近期全球发展凸显了多边倡议在应对数字贸易等新兴问题上的重要性。作为数字经济伙伴协定（DEPA）的创始成员国之一，与智利和新西兰共同推动，我们持续支持DEPA的扩展。许多国家热衷加入DEPA。去年，韩国加入了DEPA，哥斯达黎加的加入几乎完成。与加拿大、中国和秘鲁的加入谈判也在进行中。其他经济体，如阿联酋、萨尔瓦多和乌克兰，也已申请加入。

在多边层面，新加坡与澳大利亚和日本共同主持世界贸易组织（WTO）电子商务联合声明倡议，推动数字贸易全球规则的建立。经过五年谈判，我们去年达成了文本协议，约有70个成员支持。我们正努力将该协议纳入WTO并扩大其成员范围。

我们也在推进绿色经济协定（GEA），以促进绿色创新合作和可持续产品的贸易流通，最终加速我们的低碳转型。

在与澳大利亚的绿色经济协定下，我们建立了中小企业联合创新计划，称为“绿色共创创新计划”（GGCIP），以激励澳大利亚和新加坡企业之间的合作。该计划支持了五个项目，包括新加坡ESGpedia与澳大利亚FootprintLab的合资企业，开发一款基于人工智能的可持续发展报告工具，帮助企业进行气候信息披露和可持续供应链管理。

去年11月，我们还与新西兰和智利启动了贸易与绿色经济联合工作组，计划加强绿色增长领域的跨境贸易和投资。

主席先生，我们标志性的新加坡河象征着我们国家的成功故事——一个动态枢纽，促进人员、贸易和资本通过我们的海岸无缝流动，作为通往世界的门户。我们国家的成功依赖于我们持续保持开放和连接。

因此，为保持竞争力，我们必须通过促进创新、建设强大企业和投资人才来提升优势。政府将支持我们的企业应对全球经济不断变化的潮流。基于坚实基础，我们将增强互联互通，扩大机会，强化新加坡作为人员、贸易和资本流动门户的角色。

我们将共同发展经济，释放新潜力，转型企业，连接新加坡与世界，确保我们在开辟大胆前路时的集体成功。

主席：请发言澄清。梁荣华先生。

梁荣华先生（武吉班让）：谢谢您，主席。副总理颜金勇在他的演讲中以及回应我的提问时提到，在美中持续竞争的背景下，新加坡最坏的情况可能是全球贸易战。因此，我想进一步请教副总理，新加坡正在采取哪些措施来减轻这种潜在影响？

另外，我也想请副总理分享他如何看待我们与美国和中国的关系，在全球贸易战爆发的情况下，这是否会使我们更有能力应对不利影响？

颜金勇先生：首先，我必须说我希望全球贸易战不会发生，但我们必须时刻准备，因为正如我所说，外部环境将变得越来越困难和充满挑战。但新加坡应做的是继续深化我们对企业和贸易伙伴的价值主张。我们必须继续成为其他国家可靠、一贯的合作伙伴，这样我们才能继续成为全球经济中受重视的参与者。我认为这是根本所在。

其次，我们也必须继续寻找机会深化与区域内不同伙伴、志同道合国家和经济体的合作。这样，我们就能继续扩大和增长我们在全球经济中的空间。东盟是一个领域。如我所提，它是一个快速增长的区域，我认为我们将继续与东盟伙伴合作，深化东盟内部一体化，为我们创造更多机会。

但同时，正如我在演讲中提到的，我们继续扩大与邻国的合作，看看如何利用彼此优势，结合起来，为我们的贸易伙伴和全球商业伙伴提供更好的价值主张。

此外，探索新的增长领域和合作机会也很重要。例如，我提到的数字经济，这是一个新平台，不同于传统自由贸易协定。它不仅涉及关税和进出口，更关乎合作和互操作性，发展数字能力，强化我们的企业，给予它们更好机会在区域内扩展。因此，我认为这将是我们持续推进的方向。

议员提到美中关系以及新加坡如何发挥作用。我认为这不容易。我们是一个非常小的经济体。我们希望继续在两国之间发挥建设性作用。我们必须保持灵活，密切关注事态发展。我相信每位议员，现在每天早上醒来，打开报纸，看到的第一条新闻都是重大新闻，每次都让人震惊。现在不用看报纸，手机上也有新闻提醒。我认为我们必须随时应对，保持灵活，准备迅速行动。这也体现了新加坡作为小经济体的优势。我们经济紧凑，能够快速行动，迅速响应。

因此，与企业和商业团体通过各种贸易协会和组织紧密合作非常重要，看看如何带动企业，及时通报全球动态，赋能并装备它们，使其能够快速调整供应链、生产线和出口市场。

同时，继续投资于人才，使他们获得新技能和能力也很重要，因为随着全球经济变化，新机会将出现，但我们必须具备相应技能才能抓住这些机会。因此，我认为让产业和企业灵活快速行动，投资人才培训，是保持新加坡经济韧性和持续增长的基础。

主席：陈秀燕女士。

陈秀燕女士（东海岸）：谢谢主席。我想澄清的是关于支持中小企业国际化的问题，针对贸易和工业国务部长陈振声。他分享了SGProtein如何通过利用自由贸易协定提升其在韩国市场的竞争力，也提到了我们正在推进的多项自由贸易协定。能否进一步分享政府和新加坡企业联合总会（SBF）如何协作，支持中小企业更好地利用这些自由贸易协定，进入新市场？

陈振声先生：谢谢陈秀燕女士的提问。事实上，光是扩大自由贸易协定网络，签署远方国家的协定还不够，重要的是我们要与商业协会，如新加坡企业联合总会等紧密合作，带领企业了解商机。同时，在企业留在新加坡期间，提供工具和支持，帮助它们利用这些优势，降低成本，提高效率。

我想分享几点。首先，我们现在有一个关税查询工具，由Enterprise Singapore开发。比如我之前提到的SGProtein，可以通过该工具获取潜在出口市场的进口关税、手续、自由贸易协定优惠关税和原产地规则等关键信息，帮助它们导航并测试需支付的费用或如何提升效率。

新加坡企业联合总会与我们紧密合作，为像SGProtein这样的企业提供现场指导，例如如何准备制造成本报表申请。这是关键步骤，有助于证明本地内容，符合自由贸易协定优惠资格。

我还想强调，贸易与工业部和Enterprise Singapore与新加坡企业联合总会合作，去年推出了未来贸易与投资中心（CFOTI）。CFOTI帮助企业解决贸易合规相关问题，扩大利用贸易协定的能力，也为中小企业提供定制咨询支持，帮助它们充分利用自由贸易协定。因此，我鼓励中小企业与我们、Enterprise Singapore及贸易协会如新加坡企业联合总会紧密合作，充分利用这些自由贸易协定。

主席：李显龙先生。

李显龙先生（提名议员）：我要感谢劳燕玲高级国务部长、陈志凌第二贸易部长、颜金勇副总理以及参与非洲事务小组（AfA）工作的各位。

我认为今天的宣布充分显示，当有建设性意见时，政府并非充耳不闻，而是积极响应，确保新加坡保持灵活和对企业友好。

关于非洲事务小组，我希望政府考虑不时继续举办此平台，以强化政府与商界的紧密合作。这是我的第一个澄清。

第二个澄清是关于设立10亿新元的私人信贷增长基金。这无疑是一个良机，也是重要的替代融资来源。目前已有许多私人信贷基金提供者，主要服务大型跨国企业和大型本地企业，往往忽视本地企业。我想请副总理确认，为确保对本地企业的针对性支持，私人信贷增长基金的资金成本是否会以优惠且具竞争力的利率提供给基金管理者，从而确保本地企业直接受益于较低的借贷成本？

下午2点

劳燕玲女士：我代表整个贸易与工业部大家庭——不仅是贸易与工业部，还有Enterprise Singapore、经济发展局及所有经济机构——感谢新加坡企业联合总会和李显龙先生共同主持非洲事务小组，也感谢提名议员Neil Parekh参与。

我们还要感谢去年2月至11月期间参与此行程的13个贸易咨询委员会（TAC）。过程非常紧凑，我们咨询了许多企业，不仅是行业协会，还有产业和贸易协会等。这是常规的参与，我们必须持续保持这股势头。

这就是为什么在颜金勇副总理的演讲中，您听到他提到他领导促进企业规则审查的跨部委委员会。过去几个月，我也与他、尚穆根部长、陈志凌部长、李显龙部长和徐芳达部长一起，主持了超过140位中小企业首席执行官和首席体验官的讨论，继续逐行业了解是否存在痛点或可进一步改善政府整体监管灵活性的领域。

我要向李显龙先生以及商界保证，贸易与工业部不仅如此，自3月26日起，我们已设立中小企业首席执行官办公室（SME PEO）作为关键协调单位，推动政府整体积极作为，继续与商界合作，提升监管灵活性，更好支持企业抓住海外机遇。

颜金勇先生：关于私人信贷增长基金的第二部分问题，我来回应。

该计划旨在填补融资框架中的空白。我们有股权融资和常规商业贷款，但一些高增长企业处于非常细分的领域，融资不易获得。企业主和创业者也不愿意稀释股权，他们希望保持对企业的控制权，因此股权投资可能不适合他们。他们寻求替代融资。私人信贷提供了更灵活的融资结构设计，以满足特定企业的需求。

因此，这并非补贴，也不是针对有困难或需要补贴支持海外扩展的企业。我们有其他计划，Enterprise Singapore有一系列方案，如全球创新联盟（GIA）等，支持企业海外扩展、区域布局，甚至研发资金等。

不同计划针对不同目的。这个私人信贷计划主要是填补融资框架的空白。希望李先生理解。

主席：Neil Parekh先生。

Neil Parekh Nimil Rajnikant先生（提名议员）：我想感谢贸易与工业部团队提供的全面分析和详细预算——我认为这是一个非常好的预算。我有几个澄清问题。

副总理提到国家半导体先进制造创新中心（NSTIC）研发厂房，推动先进半导体研究和创新。请问为何该设施初期重点是先进封装？是否会很快扩展到其他领域？NSTIC（研发厂房）对我们本地半导体体系的直接益处是什么？

第二个问题是：最近有报导称职工总会研究人员在义顺发现地热储层。贸易与工业部能否提供关于地热能源潜力研究的最新进展？

最后，关于私人信贷，作为曾经从事商业的人士，我认为10亿新元规模太小。或许应以此为基础，吸引外部资金，将规模扩大到100亿新元或更多。即贸易与工业部提供10亿新元，私营部门筹集90亿新元。

颜金勇先生：谢谢。我会请陈志凌部长回应地热能源问题。让我先聚焦NSTIC（研发厂房）。

该设施实际上是由A*STAR运营的现有NSTIC设施的扩展。其理念是首先聚焦于先进封装，因为先进封装是许多半导体先进技术的基础技术，目的是将越来越多的组件封装进芯片中。其目标是提高芯片的密度，而先进封装在实现这一目标中起着非常重要的作用。因此，它是一项关键的基础性技术。

我们自2011年开始投资这项技术，并在该领域建立了显著的能力。这就是为什么我们鼓励在该技术的这一特定方面进行研发投资的重要原因，尤其不仅仅是跨国公司（MNCs），还包括本地中小企业（SMEs）。

所以，这只是一个起点。我们将允许NSTIC（研发晶圆厂）首先专注于先进封装。但这并不是唯一的领域。我们将保持选择的开放性，敞开大门，欢迎其他可能变得重要和关键的新兴技术。我们也会将这些设施开放给其他拥有新兴技术、希望投资研发的公司。

议员提到了10亿新元。我猜他指的是私人信贷增长基金。如果尼尔·帕雷克先生能帮助我们筹集另外90亿新元，我们将非常高兴与他洽谈。但我必须说，通常来说，我认为这是政府必须投入的种子资金。希望我们能启动这个过程。我们将继续欢迎希望加入我们这段旅程的私人信贷进入。

正如我在发言中提到的，当基金经理和投资者对私人信贷领域更加熟悉时，我们可能能够催化更多外部资金。因此，我同意议员的看法。我们将这10亿新元视为种子资金。我们希望未来能够筹集更多资本用于该基金。但我认为这是一个良好的开端。

陈志凌博士：感谢尼尔·帕雷克先生的澄清。我认为议员指的是南洋理工大学（NTU）的研究，而不是“NTUC”。我想我们稍后在人力部（MOM）的职总（COS）辩论中会与职总（NTUC）有更多交集。职总方面——为了所有职总的兄弟姐妹们——是“每个工人都重要”，而不是“每个电源都重要”。

我想我们都知道，新加坡作为一个国家，在替代能源方面处于劣势，我过去多次提到，我们将探索所有可能的脱碳路径。因此，没有任何选项被排除。

我们正在调查的本土能源选项之一是地热能。2023年，新加坡能源市场管理局（EMA）发布了一个新加坡范围内的非侵入式地球物理研究招标，旨在评估新加坡深层地热资源潜力，深度可达10公里。这是为了发电目的。因此，我要强调，EMA是评估深层地热资源潜力。这实际上与南洋理工大学的研究不同，后者是常规地热潜力的研究。

我很高兴地更新，本月我们开始了对地热能潜力的空中勘测。我们希望并计划在大约一年的时间内完成这项研究。再次强调，南洋理工大学的研究重点是建立局部潜力，勘测深度约为4公里，属于常规地热。而我们的研究是深层地热评估，深度可达10公里。

当然，鉴于我们已有的三巴旺温泉，我知道许多同志也关心这会如何影响三巴旺。新加坡政府，我向大家保证，不会进行任何可能影响现有温泉的侵入式地球物理研究。

南洋理工大学的地热钻探是在距离三巴旺温泉2.5公里和700米，几乎一公里远的地点进行的，且已于2024年初完成。

EMA正在进行的研究是非侵入式的，因为我们正在对全国地球物理环境进行空中和陆地调查，以更好地评估深层地热潜力。与所有研究和新基础设施开发一样，所有必要的环境评估都会进行。我希望我已给予议员们足够的保证和对目前所知情况的理解。

主席：林秀仪女士。

林秀仪女士（亚历山大）：主席，我有两个问题想向劳燕玲高级国务部长澄清，关于我提到的诈骗问题，她刚才也简要提及。

首先，她提到了通过跨部门反诈骗委员会（IMCS）进行的全政府努力。我了解到贸工部（MTI）也在该委员会中有代表。因此，我想了解贸工部迄今为止在IMCS工作中的兴趣和贡献。那是第一个问题。

第二个问题是：当然，我关注的核心是消费者保护问题，因为在诈骗问题上，我们经常发现消费者实际上是在与银行、电信公司和社交媒体公司等服务提供商打交道，存在一定的不平等议价能力。

所以，我想了解消费者委员会（CCCS）是否正在关注这一领域。它是否在网络诈骗领域采取措施保护消费者或制定某些标准？

劳燕玲女士：主席，感谢林秀仪女士的两个澄清。

我先回答第二个问题。我理解议员昨天发言时的想法。正如内政部（MHA）孙雪玲国务部长在职总辩论中所述，大多数诈骗涉及受害者主动将钱款转给诈骗者，以及加密货币诈骗。

这些诈骗，一是具有犯罪性质，二是通常由高度复杂的犯罪网络实施。第三点是，很多诈骗实际上是以新加坡为基地。因此，这类诈骗更适合由执法部门处理。

但我想向她保证，为确保打击诈骗的集体努力，新加坡政府不仅采取全政府方法，还与私营部门紧密合作。议员们已听孙雪玲国务部长提及与各科技公司及社区伙伴合作，打击诈骗，向上游发力，不仅仅是针对长者，诈骗可能影响所有年龄和背景的人。

反诈骗工作由跨部门反诈骗委员会协调，成员包括内政部、新加坡警察部队、MDDI、信息通信媒体发展局（IMDA）、金融管理局（MAS）及其他公共机构。贸工部也参与其中，若有涉及经济领域的相关案件，我们会负责沟通协调。

尽管如此，我要向议员保证，如果供应商存在不公平行为，消费者委员会（CCCS）肯定可以根据消费者保护（公平交易）法案（CPFTA）采取行动。这是全政府方法的一部分，各机构协同合作以保障消费者利益。

主席：傅美华女士。

傅美华女士（西海岸）：主席，我有两个问题想问副总理。第一个关于研发。副总理谈到新加坡的研发基础设施及其作为经济增长一部分的重要性。我在职总发言时也提到，研发商业化同样重要。

下午2时15分

所以，我想请问副总理，具体来说，本地企业将如何从所有研发投入中受益？我们将如何鼓励他们采用这些研发成果？又如何支持他们将研发成果真正商业化应用？这是第一个问题。

第二个问题，我想回应尼尔·帕雷克议员的评论。我可能持较为保守的观点。他谈到平衡雄心；我认为私人信贷涉及很多风险管理，如果政府介入，这是一门科学。传统上，当我们共同出资时，银行会参与风险分担。但我很想知道，鉴于政府投入的10亿新元并非小数目，风险管理方面如何承保？如何挑选支持的公司？因为10亿新元用得不多，我们希望确保这是一次良好经验，能吸引更多公司参与。哪个机构将负责管理及合作？

颜金勇先生：关于研发及研发成果商业化，我提到的NSTIC（研发晶圆厂）就是一个例子，提供设施帮助企业进行研发及商业化。因为设施成本高昂，中小企业无法直接使用，只有通过NSTIC才能接触到。因此，这是我们做的一项工作。A*STAR在许多其他行业领域也有类似做法。

我们与私营部门合作，提供研发设施的使用。但不仅仅是硬件设施，NSTIC和A*STAR还提供技术咨询，指导如何进行研发，同时如何商业化产品。A*STAR作为研究中心，在商业化部分研究成果方面经验丰富，这非常重要。

我们还有企业新加坡旗下的知识产权局（IPI），提供知识产权咨询，帮助企业利用现有知识产权进行商业化，或注册自有知识产权。我们也与高等院校通过技术转移官合作，协助企业将技术转化为商业产品。我们有多种平台与企业合作，推动研发商业化。

NSTIC的另一个方面是跨国公司与中小企业的合作。通过合作，中小企业能了解大型企业的需求，开发产品以服务跨国公司。这也促进了跨国公司利用其资源帮助中小企业商业化研发产品。这是研发方面的情况。

议员还提到10亿新元信贷。这不是小数目。我理解这有限，因为只有10亿新元。希望议员能共同说服财政部未来给予更多资金。但我同意，我们需要谨慎保守地推进，确保这10亿新元得到良好利用。

因此，我们打算寻找有良好业绩记录、具备管理私募股权、私人信贷及项目经验的基金经理，借助他们的专业管理这10亿新元，确保资金得到有效使用。

主席：我们的截止时间快到了。我将邀请萨克提安迪·苏帕特先生发言。您之前举手了？因为您有四个发言点，我给您发言机会。

萨克提安迪·苏帕特先生（碧山-大巴窑）：谢谢主席，我本想让别人先发言。但我只有一个简短澄清问题给陈志凌部长。我之前提交了关于能源基础设施的发言点，涉及能源基础设施。部长之前提到氢能和氨能战略。能否分享我们在电力来源基础设施方面的预算计划，尤其是进口能源的登陆点？我知道氨能、氢能和核能仍处于研究阶段，我们仍在调查。但我们在规划或投资这些基础设施，包括进口能源登陆点方面的计划如何？

陈志凌博士：感谢萨克提安迪先生的澄清。关于可再生能源进口，我已提到，鉴于与邻国谈判的进展，我们已将目标从4吉瓦提升至6吉瓦。关于互联互通的登陆点，我们已初步确定一些地点，具体细节目前无法透露。

互联互通大致有两种类型——高压直流（HVDC），适合跨越较长的海底距离；另一种是相对较便宜的交流海底电缆。根据发电源地点，选择合适的电缆类型。

目前，我们发放的有条件许可证主要针对较近的发电源，如巴淡、民丹和卡里蒙走廊。公众媒体也报道，我们已向更北部的中南半岛及澳大利亚潜在来源授予有条件批准，这些将涉及成本更高的高压直流海底电缆。这涵盖了可再生能源进口的主要部分。

关于碳捕集与储存，我们仍在与S-Hub合作研究模式，聚焦难以减排的碳密集行业，如裕廊岛的石化产业，研究碳捕集后的运输及储存。目前鉴于涉及量，我们仍在与潜在合作伙伴洽谈。

关于氨能和氢能，我之前也提到，尽管氢能技术上可行，但运输成本高昂，因此我们以氨能作为试点。我们有一个先导项目，将与几个潜在财团合作，评估规模化后是否可行且具商业价值。该项目规模较小，约占整体能源结构的0.5%，计划规模约50至60兆瓦。我们将提供初始种子资金评估该路径的可行性。

总的来说，我们已预留预算。鉴于尚未达到不同门槛，能源转型基金（FEF）的拨款尚未启动。但我们已补充预算，预计未来几个季度一旦达到关键门槛，将启动拨款。

主席：抱歉，我们已到截止时间。请梁荣华先生，如您愿意，请提出撤回修正案。

下午2时25分

梁荣华先生：主席，感谢副总理颜金勇、陈志凌部长、劳燕玲高级国务部长及陈振声国务部长对我们的发言点和澄清给予详尽回应。祝贸工部全体同仁在推动经济增长方面取得成功，希望2025年经济增长能超出1%至3%的预测区间。先生，基于此，我申请撤回我的修正案。

[(程序文本) 修正案经许可撤回。 (程序文本)]

[(程序文本) 头V项下金额1,638,234,500新元被批准纳入主要预算。 (程序文本)]

[(程序文本) 头V项下金额6,309,880,900新元被批准纳入发展预算。 (程序文本)]

主席：我们已连续开会近四个半小时。我建议现在休息。请安静。

[(程序文本) 随后议长离开委员会主席席，回到议院主席席。 (程序文本)]

议长：请安静。我建议现在休息，暂停会议，下午2时45分继续。

会议暂停于下午2时27分，至下午2时45分。

会议于下午2时45分恢复。

[副议长（陈素娥女士）主持]

英文原文

SPRS Hansard 原始记录 · 抓取日期：2026-05-02

[(proc text) Head V (cont) – (proc text)]

[(proc text) Resumption of Debate on Question [5 March 2025], (proc text)]

[(proc text) "That the total sum to be allocated for Head V of the Estimates be reduced by $100." – [Mr Liang Eng Hwa]. (proc text)]

[(proc text) Question again proposed. (proc text)]

12.17 pm

The Chairman : Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong.

The Minister for Trade and Industry (Mr Gan Kim Yong) : Chairman, let me first thank Members for their very constructive comments and suggestions. The year 2024 has been a relatively good year. The gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.4%, compared to 1.8% in 2023. Core inflation came down from 4.2% in 2023 to 2.7% in 2024.

This year, we celebrate SG60. We have come a long way in building a strong, innovative and vibrant economy. We have created good opportunities for Singaporeans and improved their lives. Our economic success did not happen by chance. It was the result of a combination of factors: careful long-term planning; sustained investments in infrastructure; keeping a pro-business environment; and, most important of all, investing in lifelong education and training, together with staying open to talent, trade and investment.

Generations of Singaporeans have worked together to build a strong foundation for our economy. But Members are well aware that we are now entering a new chapter in our economic journey with new challenges and opportunities unlike those we have seen before.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked about the potential headwinds arising from geopolitical contestation.

Sir, the multilateral free trade system has been under tremendous stress in recent years and is at risk of being fractured. Members would have heard United States (US) President Donald Trump's new tariffs and his plans for more, including reciprocal tariffs on trading partners to match the duties on US' exports. China and Canada have also responded with their own tariffs. This may lead to an escalating, tit-for-tat cycle for tariffs, or worse, a global trade war. This could upend the global rules-based economic order that Singapore, as a small and open economy, is dependent on.

Given that we do not impose tariffs on any American imports and the US has a trade surplus with us, we may not be significantly affected by the reciprocal tariffs directly. However, rising tariffs and trade wars could cause disruptions to supply chains, slow down global trade and drive up business costs, and therefore, affect businesses and consumers. In the longer term, it will also affect confidence and investment flows and slow down the global economy.

Instead of seeking win-win opportunities with their partners, many countries are now competing aggressively against each other for investments and protecting their domestic sectors. This will lead to a more challenging external environment for us.

Domestically, we will also need to tackle tighter constraints, especially in land, labour and carbon I spoke about last year. Our local workforce growth is expected to continue to slow in the coming years. With limited land, we will need to find new ways to maximise our space utilisation. To do our part on climate change, we will need to reduce our carbon footprint while accommodating the growing energy demand as we expand our industries.

Nevertheless, it is not all doom and gloom. Amidst these challenges, there are still opportunities for us. Asia's economy will continue to grow and Southeast Asia is expected to become the fourth largest economy in the world by 2030. Artificial intelligence (AI), digitalisation and the low-carbon transition will also present new opportunities in the digital and green economy. Singapore can also capitalise on the shifts in production and supply chains to attract new investments and strengthen our position as a key node in the reconfigured trade flows.

On balance, we can be cautiously confident. We expect our economy to expand by about 1% to 3% this year and inflation to stay moderated, with core inflation at about 1% to 2%, barring major disruptions.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked if we can grow faster. We will certainly try to do so and we hope we can grow faster than what we have projected.

Last year, I spoke about four strategies to allow us to grow, namely, grow our economy; unlock our resource potential; transform our businesses; and connect internationally. These strategies remain relevant. I will speak about how we will grow our economy while my colleagues will elaborate on the other strategies.

Sir, we will grow our economy in four ways: (a) strengthen our connectivity to the region and the world; (b) grow strong enterprises through innovation; (c) foster a pro-enterprise environment; and (d) invest in our people.

I will start with connectivity.

Mr Desmond Choo, Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked how Singapore can strengthen regional trade relations.

As a business hub, our success depends on staying well-connected to the region and to the world. Firstly, we have made progress in deepening integration and collaboration with our immediate neighbours. This year, we signed the Agreement on the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) with Malaysia. This will benefit our firms here by allowing them to tap on the resources available in Johor to expand and grow. JS-SEZ will also allow Singapore and Malaysia to draw in investments, by offering a more compelling value proposition by combining our complementary strengths.

We have seen strong commercial interest in JS-SEZ. The Singapore Business Federation's business mission to Johor Bahru last month drew 230 delegates from over 180 Singapore businesses. We will also continue to build on our existing cooperation with Indonesia, particularly in Batam, Bintan and Karimun, as well as explore new areas of cooperation.

Second, we will continue to enhance digital trade and improve market access for our companies operating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). We are making progress to substantially conclude our negotiations on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) this year. This will accelerate the growth of the digital economy within ASEAN.

We also plan to conclude negotiations and sign the upgrade to the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) this year, which will boost intra-ASEAN trade and strengthen supply chain connectivity within our region, to tap on the growth of Asia's economy.

Even as we deepen our connections, we want to nurture Singapore enterprises to become regional or global leaders. We also seek to anchor global industry leaders here to enhance our industry ecosystems, which will benefit local companies and provide good jobs.

As Ms Foo Mee Har and Mr Neil Parekh have noted, innovation is at the heart of economic growth. For example, over the past decades, we have successfully built up a strong and competitive semi-conductor ecosystem that has cemented Singapore as a critical node in the global semi-conductor supply chain. But to remain a semi-conductor powerhouse, we must invest in research and development (R&D) to drive innovation within the industry, not just among the big players but also among the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Semi-conductor manufacturing facilities typically involve substantial upfront investments. Companies, especially the smaller ones, may face challenges accessing semi-conductor infrastructure and expertise in their R&D and pilot production. To support them, we established the National Semiconductor Translation and Innovation Centre (NSTIC) last April, at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

NSTIC provides companies and researchers in the fields of flat optics and silicon photonics with access to semi-conductor R&D infrastructure. Companies may also tap NSTIC's capabilities for prototyping and small volume manufacturing to accelerate the speed to market and scaling up.

To build on this, A*STAR will broaden NSTIC to cover more semi-conductor technologies and increase the capacity. We will invest about $500 million to establish the NSTIC (R&D Fab), a new national semi-conductor R&D fabrication facility at JTC nanoSpace @ Tampines.

The NSTIC (R&D Fab) will have an initial focus on advanced packaging, which is a key growth area in the semi-conductor industry. It will offer state-of-the-art cleanroom infrastructure and industry-grade tools, as well as translational research and fabrication expertise. This will support the scaling and translation of R&D.

Major global semi-conductor players as well as SMEs and startups can tap on its capabilities and even foster new partnerships. One example is NexGen Wafer Systems, a local SME which supplies wet etching and cleaning equipment to chipmakers worldwide. They had started their R&D efforts overseas to better access tools and facilities that were not available in Singapore then. By leveraging A*STAR's R&D capabilities and facilities, NexGen has developed new semi-conductor equipment features and applications in Singapore to fabricate different types of chips. They have therefore found value in bringing a part of their R&D activities back to Singapore.

The NSTIC (R&D Fab) will scale up our capacity to enable similar SMEs and the broader semi-conductor industry here to build new capabilities, develop and commercialise globally-competitive technologies and create good jobs for Singaporeans.

Our R&D efforts have also enabled us to develop a strong pipeline of promising and innovative startups. One example is Lucence, an A*STAR spin-off and homegrown startup. Lucence focuses on precision oncology and partners the National Cancer Centre to develop the LiquidHALLMARK test to guide therapy selection for tumours. With support from Enterprise Singapore, Lucence automated its Singapore laboratory to serve customers in Singapore, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. It partnered Mayo Clinic Laboratories this year, to drive adoption and commercialisation of its technology in US.

Today, Singapore also hosts many Deep Tech companies. Among them is Entropica Labs, a startup from the Centre for Quantum Technologies. Entropica Labs has been working with global leaders in quantum computing hardware and infrastructure providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Xanadu, to bring quantum technologies to the market.

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We want to do more through the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) nodes in key innovation hubs. We help our companies tap into the innovation networks and market opportunities overseas. Carecam, a digital health startup focusing on transitional care and advanced screening, participated in the GIA San Francisco Acceleration Programme and connected with a US-based corporate to integrate their solutions into new business entities. This will support the company's expansion into the US healthcare sector.

We want to support more startups like Carecam to accelerate their speed to market and facilitate their product commercialisation. We will enhance the GIA to support startups in various growth stages. The GIA Discovery will support startups to familiarise themselves with the market and evaluate product-market fit, in order to shape their market strategy. Thereafter, startups can pilot their technologies in these new markets, with the support from GIA Proof of Concept to validate their products and gain market credibility.

The GIA+ initiative will support startups participating in global acceleration programmes, such as those run by Y Combinator, MassRobotics and MassChallenge in the US, to gain access to mentorship, resources and networks to realise their overseas expansion plans. To expand our startup ecosystem, we also want experienced founders to be anchored here and build their new ventures that have the potential to become globally leading businesses. To do so, the Economic Development Board (EDB) will launch a Global Founder Programme (GFP) later this year.

Let me give Members a preview. This is a targeted programme aimed at supporting the new ventures of experienced founders from around the world as well as in Singapore. Founders are individuals who have built highly successful startups or who have developed major new products and business lines in global companies, or who have made significant scientific or engineering achievements, such as in AI or Deep Tech. The GFP signals our belief in the power of openness. We want to bring the best from around the world to Singapore to add to the strength of our own. We want to support firms which are able and willing to innovate and grow. We will foster a vibrant innovation ecosystem that will help our companies stay competitive and create high-value job opportunities for Singaporeans.

Manufacturing is a key pillar of our economy, comprising close to 20% of our GDP and is one of the largest contributors to productivity growth. It also supports the growth of the financial and professional services sectors.

I would like to reassure Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Mr Mark Lee, Ms Jessica Tan, Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr Saktiandi Supaat that we will continue to encourage leading manufacturers here to invest in innovation and also attract new, high performing companies to grow in Singapore.

Last October, I attended KLA's groundbreaking ceremony for a new manufacturing facility in Singapore, for some of their most advanced wafer geometry and defect inspection tools. KLA's new facility is expected to create at least 400 jobs, in areas, such as mechanical design, materials and product testing. It will also create opportunities for enterprises here to collaborate with KLA on niche areas, such as precision cleaning and manufacturing of metal parts used in optics assemblies.

For example, local SME Alantac Industrial Services and KLA co-developed precision cleaning solutions for defect inspection tools that meet stringent cleaning requirements. By supporting our high-performing firms in Singapore, we hope to uplift the capacity and capabilities of our entire industry ecosystem, including our local SMEs.

Mr Mark Lee and Mr Edward Chia asked how the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) intends to support the financing needs of businesses as they expand globally. The Government had allocated over $1.8 billion in the past five years in equity investment funds to support enterprise growth; but there is room for us to enhance our equity and debt financing toolkit to better support our enterprises' diverse growth strategies.

First, we will introduce the Long-Term Investment Fund and deploy more than $200 million of Government capital over a longer time horizon, beyond the typical three- to seven-year timescale. This caters to enterprises with longer and more complex growth trajectories that will require more time to fully realise their potential.

Second, we will launch a $1 billion Private Credit Growth Fund (PCGF). Unlike traditional debt, private credit has the flexibility to meet the specific needs of companies looking to scale up quickly. And unlike equity, private credit allows companies and founders to retain business ownership and control. The PCGF is targeted at local enterprises with strong growth potential to become leaders in their respective industry domain. Some of them will require tailored financing solutions to support their unique growth strategy, such as international merger and acquisitions (M&As) or large overseas capital investments. These solutions may not be readily available in Asia, through the traditional financing today.

Beyond the $1 billion seeded by the Government, we hope to catalyse more commercial funding as more fund managers and investors gain familiarity and confidence in this space.

I spoke earlier about the importance of our pro-enterprise environment. At last year's National Day Rally, the Prime Minister also spoke about the need for us to ensure a business-friendly environment and to keep regulatory burden to a minimum. We had set up the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Pro-Enterprise Rules Review last year that I chair to look into our rules and streamline our regulations, to enable our businesses to move fast to seize the opportunities that come our way.

Since then, my fellow Ministers and I have engaged more than 140 business leaders across 14 sectors. Let me thank all the stakeholders for their support and their feedback. Business leaders have cited approval timelines, frequency of licence renewals and duplicative processes as key areas for improvement. The Committee has studied the feedback carefully. While we will tackle specific feedback from the industry, and Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling will elaborate later, the Government will set three Statements of Commitment to guide our whole-of-Government efforts to increase regulatory agility and reduce compliance burden for our businesses.

First, all relevant agencies will publish service standards for the processing of business regulatory applications to provide greater clarity for companies. We will endeavour to streamline service standards to 30 working days or less, where feasible.

Second, we will increase the validity period of regular business licences to a minimum of three years where possible and aim towards five years. This will provide greater certainty for businesses, especially for those undertaking longer-term growth plans.

Third, the Government will continue to streamline regulatory processes to facilitate concurrent rather than sequential approvals where possible. We will also streamline information requests across agencies. We have made good progress in the Built Environment sector, by developing CORENET X as a one-stop digital platform for building works approvals across agencies. We should learn from this experience and apply the same approach in other domains.

Lastly, we are investing more in our people. Ultimately, we pursue economic growth so that future generations of Singaporeans can continue to build better lives for themselves. So, this growth must translate into real opportunities for Singaporeans to advance their careers and develop their potential to the fullest.

Lifelong learning is critical for workers to upgrade themselves and take up higher wage roles. For example, we have partnered the Singapore Institute of Technology on a continuing education and training (CET) degree, to upskill in-employment diploma holders in manufacturing.

This will also help businesses develop and retain their local manufacturing talent pipeline and enhance business continuity. Minister Tan See Leng will share more. We will also strengthen initiatives to groom more Singaporean Global Leaders. Last year, we launched the Global Business Leaders Programme. We also launched the Singapore Leaders Network (SGLN) Fellowship to equip managers with the ambition to assume regional and global leadership roles.

One of 60 fellows from the pioneer batch is Ms Camy Loh. Camy joined Royal Vopak, a leading independent tank storage company, as a sales manager in Singapore in 2014. Today, Camy is now the Deputy Managing Director of Royal Vopak's Thai Tank Terminal, co-leading a team of over 120 employees at one of the largest maritime logistics terminals near Bangkok. It was a big step for her professionally as well as personally. Through the SGLN, Camy gained skills and knowledge to allow her to thrive in this role in Bangkok.

We are proud that Camy is flying the Singapore flag high. We are enhancing SGLN to better support more Singaporeans like Camy. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will elaborate further on this.

These education and training initiatives take time to bear fruit, and I encourage companies to start early and proactively plan to nurture Singaporean talent and benefit from a strong pipeline of talent and leadership.

Chairman, we are, indeed, entering uncharted waters. In fact, I think I should say that we are already in uncharted waters. We will face economic uncertainties and disruptions in the months and years to come. There will be challenges, but there will also be opportunities. We can look ahead to the next bound of our economic development with confidence, by remaining open to trade, talent and investments, as well as maintaining a pro-business environment.

We must further strengthen our competitive edge through innovation, deepen our integration with the region and with the world, and investing in building strong enterprises and a skilled workforce. This is how we will earn our living and standing in an increasingly uncertain and unfavourable external environment.

By doing so, we will keep our economy going, keep our economy strong, vibrant and resilient, and create better jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans and a better future for Singapore for the next 60 years and more. [ Applause .]

The Second Minister for Trade and Industry (Dr Tan See Leng) : Mr Chairman, Singapore faces increasing growth pressures. Our population is ageing rapidly amidst intensifying competition for talent. We face fiercer rivalry for investments as we navigate land and carbon constraints.

To address these challenges, we will expand our resource potential through four strategies. First, decarbonising our energy mix. Second, investing in our workers. Third, sustaining investments in research and innovation and last, but not least, enhancing our land productivity.

I will first update on our decarbonisation efforts. Singapore has committed to achieve net-zero by 2050. As Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean said, Singapore is a climate realist. The timeline for climate action is set by nature, not geopolitical developments. Moreover, our decarbonisation initiatives are an important factor in companies' investment decisions. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren to stay the course.

Cross-border electricity trading is crucial to achieving our climate goals. We are working towards progressing the first batch of electricity import projects with Conditional Licences, to reach Final Investment Decisions. These projects are win-win collaborations that lay the groundwork for our shared aspiration of an ASEAN Power Grid within the region. They create jobs. They underpin new investments for the source country. And given the substantive progress that we have made, we have raised our imports ambition from four gigawatts (GWs) to around six GWs by 2035.

Concurrently, we will maximise our domestic solar potential. As Senior Minister Teo has also shared, we achieved our 2025 deployment target of 1.5 gigawatt-peak (GWp) ahead of schedule. This puts us on track to achieving our 2030 target of at least two GWp. Scaling beyond the two GWp is challenging, but we will continue to encourage home owners and building owners to install solar panels and push the boundaries of domestic deployment. For example, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has worked with industry stakeholders, including through the Alliance for Action (AfA) on Business Competitiveness, to simplify regulatory processes.

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The simplified processes exempt more than half of all solar photovoltaic (PV) installations on metal-roofed buildings from fire separation requirements, allowing eligible building owners to save up to 30% on total construction cost.

Electricity imports and solar energy alone are insufficient to get us to net-zero. We need to explore every possible decarbonisation pathway. Nuclear energy, especially advanced nuclear reactors, is an option that we are seriously studying for potential deployment.

Now, let me address Mr Sharael Taha and Ms Jessica Tan's questions clearly. We have not yet made a decision on deployment. It is, therefore, premature to speak on potential sites, costs and specific plans. But our current priority is to accelerate capability building on nuclear safety and advanced nuclear technologies. We are training more nuclear scientists, such as via postgraduate scholarships in nuclear science and engineering.

We are also stepping up on international partnerships. Last year, we signed a substantive civil nuclear agreement with the United States. This complements our ongoing cooperation with partners, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), France's Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety and the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked about our plans for hydrogen. Hydrogen, indeed, has the potential to be a low-carbon fuel for the future, although high adoption costs and technical challenges remain today. In the near-term, our focus is similarly on capability building. By the end of this year, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) aim to identify a lead developer for a pilot project to use ammonia for power generation and maritime bunkering.

We are also exploring complementary solutions to decarbonise the hard-to-abate sectors. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are advancing quickly. We will engage emitters and potential service providers to develop the CCS value chain and partner countries with suitable geological storage sites. We have made progress by signing a Letter of Intent with Indonesia in 2024 and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Malaysia in 2025.

Mr Edward Chia and Ms Tin Pei Ling asked for an update on our carbon markets initiatives. As Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean mentioned, Singapore just signed an Implementation Agreement with Bhutan, in addition to our agreements with Ghana and Papua New Guinea. These Agreements establish the framework for the transfer of Article 6 carbon credits, which is aligned with our environmental integrity criteria. MTI will also be launching a Request for Proposals to procure Article 6-compliant carbon credits later this year.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat pointed out, natural gas will continue to play a crucial role in our energy mix. And that is why we will set up the central gas procurement entity for the power sector this year and complete the development of our second liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal by this decade. These will secure our natural gas needs for the foreseeable future.

We will calibrate our speed of adoption for energy technologies and solutions. For the less mature solutions, we will strengthen research efforts and accelerate commercialisation.

We will commit $62.5 million for the A*STAR to develop a Low-Carbon Technology Translational Testbed (LCT3) that will support companies in scaling up low-carbon solutions closer to commercial development. International and local players, like IHI Corporation from Japan and CRecTech, a local company, have already expressed interest to use LCT3.

For commercially-mature solutions, we will accelerate their deployment.

As Mr Saktiandi Supaat highlighted, this includes making major infrastructural investments for a low-carbon future. To save up for these investments, we are topping-up the Future Energy Fund (FEF) by $5 billion. We have not disbursed monies from the fund, as it is still early days in our infrastructural developmental journey. However, we anticipate significant drawdowns once key technological and commercial thresholds are crossed.

To address Mr Sharael Taha's question, the FEF can also be used to fund studies for the deployment of low-carbon energy infrastructure, including those needed for small modular reactors.

To better inform our decisions as we decarbonise, A*STAR is developing an integrated model to simulate the interdependencies of the possible net-zero mitigation measures.

Members have voiced concerns about the potential impact of decarbonisation on energy costs. Our aim is to strike the right balance between decarbonisation towards net zero, ensuring at the same time our energy security and maintaining cost-competitiveness.

For households, we will continue to provide support through measures, such as U-save rebates. For businesses, we will co-fund investments in energy efficiency through initiatives like the Energy Efficiency Grant. Furthermore, we will fully rechannel carbon tax revenue collected towards decarbonisation efforts. We do not expect, therefore, to derive additional net revenue from the carbon tax in this decade.

Next, on manpower. As we decarbonise, we will continue to upgrade the skillsets of our workforce. This is particularly crucial for workers in energy-intensive sectors, such as the petrochemicals industry, who will be more impacted by the green transition. Many already possess core skillsets that allow them to take on new job opportunities in adjacent growth segments, like specialty chemicals, or those in the sustainability space.

We will also support workers via CET efforts, as well as Career Conversion Programmes (CCPs).

Beyond the green transition, CET will remain a key enabler to deepen Singaporeans' skills in response to digitalisation and AI. In fact, Government spending on CET initiatives in FY2024 is projected to amount to over $1 billion. We will continue to work with companies and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to support workers in upskilling and attaining better wage outcomes.

One prime example is EDB's collaboration with industry and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) on an Electrical and Electronics Engineering degree for in-employment diploma holders in manufacturing roles. This CET degree follows best practices in adult education by recognising prior learning and work experiences and allowing qualifications to be stacked towards a degree. Learners can also access recorded lessons and online consultations, so that it is easier for them to juggle work and study.

CCPs can also support the reskilling and the redeployment of employees. Mr Mark Lee would be pleased to know that Workforce Singapore's (WSG's) CCPs already support these redeployments of existing employees post-merger. Moreover, since 1 April 2024, WSG increased the monthly salary support cap from $6,000 to $7,500 for eligible workers with up to 90% of salary support.

Now, even as we develop Singaporeans, we must continue to attract global talent that can complement our local workforce. We have concluded agreements with both Indonesia and Vietnam to facilitate the exchange of technology and innovation talent.

The Tech:X pilot with Indonesia was launched in July last year, while the parameters of the Innovation Talent Exchange programme with Vietnam were launched in September 2024. So, Indonesia in July 2024 and Vietnam in September 2024. Nearly 50 companies and 50 Singaporeans have expressed interest across both programmes. Our young leaders will have greater exposure to regional economies and companies will find it easier to access mobile talent.

Collectively, this two-pronged strategy of supporting Singaporeans and attracting global talent will keep our workforce globally competitive. I will elaborate on how our efforts have supported good employment outcomes for Singaporeans later at MOM's Committee of Supply (COS) debate this evening.

Third, on research and innovation. We must continue developing an innovation-led economy, as Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong has shared. This is why Singapore invested $28 billion under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 (RIE2025) plan.

Ms Foo Mee Har asked how we will drive research translation and support the development of our semi-conductors and biotech sectors. Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced upcoming initiatives, such as the RIE Flagship to advance semi-conductor R&D and the RIE Grand Challenge, focusing on healthy and successful longevity. These complement the existing R&D translation platforms available.

One such platform is A*STAR's MedTech Catapult, which provides infrastructure, expertise and connections to local contract manufacturers looking to further develop frontier medical devices. I attended the launch event last month and was happy to know that more than 10 companies have applied to this initiative.

Besides this, the NSTIC (R&D Fab) for advanced packaging in semi-conductors, which Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong shared earlier, is another R&D translation platform that A*STAR will be rolling out. Such investments enable more firms to produce cutting-edge technologies, create good jobs and maintain Singapore's competitiveness.

The GDP contribution from firms with R&D activities grew from around 15% of GDP to 24% over a 10-year period from 2012 to 2022. The number of R&D jobs increased by 7.6% from 2021 to 2022.

To address Ms Foo Mee Har's question on securing the talent pipeline for our R&D facilities, we are bringing in top talent who contribute to the ecosystem.

During COS 2023, I shared about Prof Watson, an Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass (ONE PASS) holder, who took on the Executive Director role at A*STAR Skin Research Labs and the Skin Research Institute of Singapore. Prof Watson has since strengthened A*STAR's global standing, by partnering the National Skin Centre and Sanofi to trial a first-of-its-kind acne vaccine and deepen understanding of key biological markers that impact the severity of the condition.

These are signs that our efforts are bearing fruit and we will invest further.

The Prime Minister announced during Budget that we are refreshing A*STAR's biomedical research infrastructure by extending it to the greater one-north area. This is an approximately $500 million effort, which will strengthen our biomedical R&D ecosystem in two ways.

First, A*STAR will be located closer to key partners, like the National University Health System's clinical community and venture builders, making it a new attraction point for both industry players and talent. Second, A*STAR will redesign its laboratories and workspaces to promote interdisciplinary collaboration across the different research institutes. It will do so by providing more centrally-managed collaboration spaces that allow for better integration of expertise across teams.

A*STAR will also introduce new biopharma manufacturing programmes with its partners – the Singapore Cell Therapy Advanced Manufacturing Programme 2.0 (STAMP 2.0) and the Process Accelerator for Cell Therapy Manufacturing (PACTMAN).

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Cell therapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, have transformed treatment for certain blood cancers and they have demonstrated promise for autoimmune diseases, but they remain complex and expensive to manufacture.

Since 2019, STAMP has partnered biotech companies to improve the quality testing of cell therapy assets, conduct CAR-T therapy trials in Singapore and enable licensing and spinoffs of new technologies. STAMP 2.0 will build on this to develop lower-cost manufacturing technologies that can produce higher quality products. For example, it aims to reduce the time taken for cell extraction, modification and infusion into patients, what we call the vein-to-vein time.

Meanwhile, PACTMAN will develop scalable processes to accelerate the translation of cell therapies, including those developed through STAMP, from laboratory to clinic. Taken together, these efforts will deepen our R&D capabilities and drive innovation-led growth.

Lastly, on land polices. We support businesses to intensify land use and to be more productive.

We will extend and enhance the Land Intensification Allowance (LIA) scheme to unlock new industrial space. Companies receiving the LIA approval during the next five years will continue to enjoy tax allowance on the full qualifying costs over 15 years. From 2026, we will make it easier for companies to qualify for LIA so that they can optimise space and they can integrate operations with related businesses. Building users and LIA recipients can be considered related if they own more than 50% shareholding of each other. This is down from the current threshold of at least 75%.

JTC will also introduce four initiatives to provide greater flexibility for companies. These initiatives support the recommendations from the AfA on Business Competitiveness and the work under the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Pro-Enterprise Rules Review.

First, companies with new leases on greenfield industrial land will be offered additional three years of lease tenure to cover the development and building period. This will allow companies to enjoy the full duration of the lease with their completed development.

Second, high-performing companies will have more flexibility to extend their leases in shorter periods for incremental business investments. JTC will introduce a new five-year Flexible Lease Extension Initiative (FLEXI) to give eligible companies on JTC's 20-year leases the option to extend their leases by up to two tranches of five years each.

Third, JTC will bring forward the lease renewal application period from the current six years to ten years before lease expiry.

Finally, JTC will broaden its definition of plant and machinery investments, which is a key criteria for lease renewal. We will now recognise auditable investments in innovation, R&D, digital transformation and intellectual property (IP) creation. Mr Chairman, in Mandarin, please.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] There is an old saying, "Wealth does not last beyond three generations." However, through the hard work of successive generations, Singapore has successfully entered its fourth generation.

We, as the current generation, should uphold the same spirit and be accountable to future generations of Singaporeans.

The measures that I have announced today will lay the foundations for the future of Singapore's economy.

( In English ): Chairman, as we conclude, let us reflect on the enduring Singapore spirit.

For 60 years, we have thrived not despite our challenges but because of them. We have always been tight on resources, but we are never short on resourcefulness. Our resource constraints have compelled us to be innovative and brought us to where we are today. For the next 60 years and beyond, I am confident that this same innovative spirit, as reflected in the bold steps we are taking today, will drive our continued growth and it will secure a vibrant future for generations of Singaporeans. [ Applause. ]

The Chairman : Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling.

The Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Low Yen Ling) : Mr Chairman, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong shared that the next chapter of our economic journey will bring new challenges and opportunities. We have what it takes to stay anchored amid the waves.

Over the years, our enterprises have acquired the skills to adapt, innovate and change to emerge stronger. Together, we can transform to achieve growth and stay ahead of the game.

The Government is strongly committed to supporting our enterprises every step of the way. To enable their business transformation and growth, we will: one, support the overseas expansion of our enterprises; two, empower our enterprises to transform and benefit from artificial intelligence; and three, enhance Singapore's pro-enterprise business environment and reduce red tape.

We will also boost our heartlands and support our heartland enterprises.

Chairman, Singapore's economic success is built on our ability to connect with the world, as Mr Mark Lee has noted. For Singapore enterprises to grow, they must expand beyond our hinterland to overseas markets for fresh revenue streams.

I want to reassure Ms Jessica Tan, Mr Edward Chia, Mr Mark Lee and Mr Keith Chua that Enterprise Singapore is committed to providing comprehensive and holistic support for Singapore enterprises.

In 2024, Enterprise Singapore supported more than 2,300 companies, helping them boost their projected annual revenue by $14.5 billion through transformative projects in productivity, that is $8.2 billion; internationalisation, that is $5.5 billion; as well as innovation, that is $0.8 billion, all totalling up to the $14.5 billion I highlighted earlier.

Companies that undertook internationalisation projects saw a projected increase in annual revenue of $8.8 million per company compared to $7.7 million in 2023. I am glad to announce that moving forward, we will further enhance our support in this area.

First, we will permanently double the maximum loan quantum for the Enterprise Financing Scheme – Trade Loan (EFS-TL) from $5 million to $10 million. We have considered feedback from the business community, including the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and PricewaterhouseCoopers, and would like to meet this need for financing.

Second, we will extend the Double Tax Deduction for Internationalisation (DTDi) for the next five years. Enterprises with expansion plans can continue to benefit from a 200% tax deduction on eligible expenses for overseas market expansion and investment development activities.

Third, we will extend the $100,000 Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) Grant cap by one more year to 31 March 2026, because this is in response to industry feedback that many companies, many businesses have spent the last two to three years getting back on their feet after COVID-19. They are restarting their expansion plans and need more time to execute their global market outreach.

Besides our grant, tax and financing schemes, Enterprise Singapore and its partners operate a wide network of Overseas Centres where Singapore SMEs can receive support to enter regional markets.

Besides helping enterprises grow their overseas markets, I want to reassure Mr Mark Lee that the Government will enhance support for enterprises pursuing inorganic growth via M&A.

We will expand the scope of the Enterprise Financing Scheme – Mergers and Acquisitions (EFS-M&A) to also cover targeted asset acquisitions, such as intellectual properties and contracts, without a corresponding equity purchase. This will help unlock loan financing for enterprises to acquire specific and complementary assets of a target business that can enhance their growth prospects without having to buy out the target business and, therefore, take on its liabilities. The pilot will last five years, from 1 April this year until 31 March 2030.

Chairman, in addition to providing access to financing, we will continue to support enterprises in adopting new technologies, such as AI, because AI can spur enterprise and workforce transformation. It enables the firm to automate manual business processes and augment workers' skills, raising productivity, driving innovation and further growing business revenue.

The Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) will share the broad progress of our National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0 while I will focus on MTI's key industry development efforts.

First, we will support more enterprises in setting up AI centres of excellence to accelerate the development and deployment of AI solutions across our economy. We recognise that enterprises need access to compute infrastructure, software and consultancy services to grow their AI R&D and productisation capabilities

And so, as the Prime Minister announced and mentioned in his Budget Statement, we are introducing the new Enterprise Compute Initiative (ECI) for Singapore-based enterprises with the ambition to anchor AI mandates and grow AI teams here in Singapore. Enterprises which are digitally mature, have a compelling AI use case as well as an implementation roadmap can tap on the ECI.

Mr Mark Lee will be pleased to know that under ECI, participants will have access to cloud compute credits and training programmes from cloud service providers, such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. The Government will also provide a grant for ECI participants to access consultancy services offered by system integrators to help them develop and scale their AI solutions.

Secondly, the Government will continue to support the broad base of enterprises that are considering the adoption of AI-enabled solutions.

Ms Jessica Tan will be pleased to know that Enterprise Singapore , in partnership with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), has helped close to 3,000 SMEs adopt AI solutions through the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG). We will continue to enhance our existing digitalisation initiatives, such as the SMEs Go Digital Programme, to accelerate AI adoption. MDDI will elaborate more on this during their COS.

Besides powering up enterprises to use AI, we will help workers to upskill and harness AI to advance their careers.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa will be glad to know that we are indeed deepening our partnerships with the industry and the IHL partners to continue delivering industry-relevant curricula and providing student internships. MOM will share more details on how we will enhance support for businesses as they redesign jobs and upskill workers.

Chairman, Singapore is continuing to innovate and stay agile with AI. The constant energy to do better is part of our Singapore DNA. Deputy Prime Minister Gan spoke about our business-friendly environment, a fundamental quality that has enabled Singapore to stay attractive, to stay competitive. We are not resting on our laurels and we are committed to doing more.

The Government has stepped up our engagements with the industry and sought views on how Singapore can strengthen our competitiveness.

To this end, I co-chaired the AfA on Business Competitiveness with SBF Council Vice Chairman Mr Mark Lee from February to November last year. Mr Neil Parekh will also know and, in fact, he shared that the AfA engaged the businesses, and trade associations and chambers (TACs) extensively last year and released 27 recommendations on manpower, land and regulatory issues.

Our Government agencies have considered the AfA's recommendations seriously. Earlier on, you heard from Second Minister Dr Tan See Leng, JTC will implement the AfA's recommendation on lease tenure and renewals for industrial land.

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In April 2024, the Government formed the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) for Pro-Enterprise Rules Review to review our regulatory regime for the next bound. I thank Mr Edward Chia, Ms Jessica Tan, as well as Mr Keith Chua and Mr Mark Lee for their questions on the IMC. As announced by Deputy Prime Minister Gan earlier, he mentioned after extensive reviews and consultations, the Committee has set out three Statements of Commitment to streamline regulatory processes and to reduce the compliance burden on businesses. Our work does not stop there. Let me share more about the three-pronged commitment to enhancing our ecosystem and supporting businesses as they navigate Government regulations.

First is the SME Pro-Enterprise Office (SME PEO). Following the AfA's recommendation, I announced last September that this new office will be set up under Enterprise Singapore to help businesses navigate regulatory matters. I am pleased to announce that the SME PEO will be fully operational from 26 March this year, in 20 days' time. Working with the Pro-Enterprise Panel and respective regulatory agencies, SME PEO will be the Government's key coordination unit to aggregate business feedback and to improve regulations at the systems level. We seek continued strong support from our key partners, including the SBF and all TACs, to be our ears on the ground as well as champions for SMEs. Let us work closely with SME PEO to reduce red tape and to streamline processes to support our SMEs.

Second, we will enhance our SME Centres to offer a wider range of business advisory services and programmes. Today, there are 10 SME Centres across Singapore, helmed by TACs. The Business Advisors at these Centres will be armed with new toolkits to provide enhanced one-to-one business advisory services, workshops as well as group-based upgrading projects where multiple businesses facing similar pain points can adopt a common solution. This complements the work of the SME PEO so that our businesses can receive advisory support for their growth needs, including regulatory issues. We will continue to partner closely with our TACs to enhance SME Centres' offerings and to extend our reach to more businesses.

Third, we will continue investing in and improving our digital platforms, such as the GoBusiness portal and the Enterprise Singapore's Business Grants Portal. We will not only streamline licensing and regulatory transactions, but we will also improve, in terms of the grant applications, to better serve businesses.

Enterprise Singapore continues to enhance its grant processing efficiency through automation and centralised processing. For instance, the processing time for PSG applications has been shortened by 80%, from the previous almost three months to the current two weeks. These enhancements to our grant application and approval processes for local enterprises will not stop. We will continue to look at how we can improve and shorten the processing time by leveraging automation and centralised processing.

Taken together, the three pillars – the SME PEO, SME Centres and digitalisation – will continue to drive our efforts in supporting business transformation and growth for our SMEs and our enterprises.

Chairman, while easing regulatory burdens for businesses, the Government is also mindful that for markets to function properly, consumers' trust in merchants and markets must be upheld. I thank Mr Dennis Tan, Ms Sylvia Lim and Mr Melvin Yong for their questions.

On Mr Dennis Tan's suggestion, while right-to-repair has its benefits to the environment and to consumers, there are also potential downsides, such as data security concerns. I want to assure him that we will monitor and assess the need for such legislation in Singapore.

I also want to assure Ms Sylvia Lim that there is a whole-of-Government approach today to deal with scams which are criminal in nature, led by MHA and coordinated by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Scams.

MTI and the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) regularly review our consumer protection regime to ensure that consumers' interests are protected. The Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (or CPFTA) provides general remedies for consumers who encounter unfair trade practices when transacting with businesses. In addition, sector regulators have established more specific standards relevant to the sectors they oversee.

An effective consumer protection regime also requires the strong support of our key partners and businesses. MTI works closely with the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) to raise consumer awareness and champion their needs and rights. I agree with Mr Melvin Yong that more can be done, especially in the e-commerce space, where unfair practices can take on new and less-obvious forms.

The Government welcomes and encourages businesses to take the lead in industry-led initiatives, to ensure a fair and safe marketplace for our consumers. We have commenced consulting with the industry and will announce more details on our upcoming initiatives in the coming weeks.

Last but not least, let me speak on something closer to home – heartland shops. Many of us have very close ties to the heartlands, where we live, work and share good memories. They form part of our collective identity as Singaporeans, and our heartland shops are really part and parcel of our daily lives and social fabric.

I reassure Mr Desmond Choo and Mr Keith Chua that we are sparing no efforts to rejuvenate our heartlands. We have made progress in the past few years and we will strive to do more.

To recap, in 2022, we launched the $50 million Our Heartlands 2025 programme to revitalise our heartlands and to enhance the capabilities of heartland shops, helping them transform, stay relevant and continue serving residents. In fact, earlier in October 2020, we laid the foundation for transformation with the Heartlands Go Digital Programme. Since then, more than 17,000 heartland shops have adopted e-payment solutions. In 2022 and 2023, we further expanded the Heartlands Go Digital Programme to cover wider areas, such as service excellence, digital marketing and human resources.

We have also helped heartland shops rejuvenate their premises with the Visual Merchandising Programme that was launched in 2021. As a result of this programme, the heartland shops that participated shared that they have seen their footfall and their sales increase by generally about 20%.

Our heartland shops in Singapore have also benefited from the launch of Community Development Council (CDC) Vouchers since the scheme started slightly more than three years ago. To date, Singaporeans have spent more than $1 billion at about 23,000 heartland shops and hawker stalls. In fact, the new round of CDC Vouchers as well as the SG60 Vouchers this year will again boost the visibility, footfall as well as business for our heartland shops.

For many of our heartland shops, getting that additional visibility and awareness can really make a vital difference to their business. That is why, last year, we launched the Heartland Enterprise Placemaking Grant (HEPG) to encourage our heartland merchants to organise innovative placemaking activities involving community engagement, public art installations, workshops, and thematic festivals. Many heartland shops have applied successfully for the HEPG.

One such shop is Quan Shui Wet Market, which started in Ang Mo Kio in 1968. The fresh pork stall owned by Uncle Oh Quan Shui has grown to eight and is now an omni-channel retail operation with a flagship store at Upper Thomson. Quan Shui participated in the Digital Practitioner Programme (DPP). In fact, under the charge of Uncle Oh's grandson, Neo Jun He, the store has refreshed its brand and pivoted online with a website and marketing a wider range of product range that went beyond just pork. Within just five months, Quan Shui attracted a growing pool of keen visitors and potential customers.

And like what Mr Desmond Choo mentioned during his cut yesterday, Quan Shui tapped into the HEPG to improve its product visibility. They participated in Easty Breezy, which is a seaside-inspired marketplace last September in Marine Parade, as well as a Chinese New Year Bazaar this year. Both events led to higher revenue, footfall and brand loyalty.

In fact, with its refreshed brand, expanded online presence and growing product range, Quan Shui's revenue increased by 25% from 2021 to 2024, and the company is projecting a 20% growth year-on-year.

Today, we would like to invite all Members to have a taste of Quan Shui's success. MTI has arranged for bento boxes with Quan Shui's siew mai, har gao as well as the chicken and mushroom dumplings to be served in the Members' Room later during tea break, and we have also made special arrangements for our Muslim Members. We have set aside four of their very, very popular halal otah buns in each bento set for each of our Muslim Members when they break fast later. We hope that Members will enjoy this at the end of the day. These handmade local dim sums are really based on the 60-year-old family recipe from the founder, Uncle Oh.

So, companies like Quan Shui, have shown that Government support and schemes helped them to transform and boost their businesses. We want to encourage our enterprises to approach any of our 10 SME Centres for assistance and to embark on a journey of transformation and growth.

Given the success of these initiatives, we will continue strengthening Our Heartlands 2025 Programme with fresh initiatives and energise our heartlands "inside out".

Starting from the "inside" of our heartland shops, we will launch the Enhanced Visual Merchandising Programme to help our heartland shops refresh their stores and gain visual appeal to attract more customers. This enhanced programme will offer the heartland shops support in training, consultancy as well as makeover of their shopfronts. We are increasing the total qualifying cost by five times, from $12,000 previously to $60,000 now. In addition, the project scope for the shopfront makeover can be more customised and more training topics will be added.

From "inside" to "outside", besides revitalising the interiors of heartland shops, we will also rejuvenate what takes place in our heartlands' neighbourhood. We will launch a new Vibrant Heartlands Programme for Merchants' Associations to support their placemaking activities and events. They can conduct bite-sized and pre-scoped activities under a recommended standard option or explore holding larger-scale, customised placemaking events. Bite-sized and pre-scoped activities would receive grant support on qualifying costs of $3,000 per application, while larger-scale customisable placemaking events would receive grant support on qualifying costs of up to $200,000 per application.

Mr Chairman, please allow me to say a few words in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Chairman, fellow Members of Parliament, the global and regional economies are facing unprecedented situations, and all Singapore businesses must actively innovate and transform. The Government will support businesses in their transformation and growth in these areas.

First, supporting internationalisation. Second, helping businesses leverage AI for transformation. Third, increasing regulatory flexibility to create a business-friendly environment.

In recent years, we have continuously work to revitalise our heartland economy and promote the development of heartland enterprises. Firstly, the Government has distributed several rounds of CDC Vouchers, encouraging Singaporeans to spend at approximately 23,000 participating heartland shops and hawker stalls, with total spending exceeding $1 billion. Through the new round of CDC Vouchers and the SG60 Vouchers this year, we will continue to help heartland shops and hawkers increase their revenue.

Our heartland communities are our emotional connection points. For Singaporeans, the familiar heartland shops and hawker stalls play an irreplaceable role in deepening our collective memories and national identity. Like the handmade snacks you will enjoy later, our heartland communities have that familiar flavour and human touch.

Therefore, we will further upgrade Our Heartlands 2025 Programme to let communities shine from inside out, injecting vitality throughout our heartland communities. These include launching an enhanced Visual Merchandising Scheme, increasing the total qualifying cost five-fold from $12,000 to $60,000, while expanding shop renovation scope and adding training topics.

Additionally, we will launch the Vibrant Heartlands Programme for Merchants' Association. This programme has two parts. Firstly, for shorter pre-set activities, the qualifying cost is $3,000 per event. Secondly, Merchants' Association planning larger community building activities can apply for subsidies, on qualifying costs of up to $200,000.

We hope more heartland businesses will make good use of existing schemes for innovation and transformation.

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( In English ): Chairman, the Government is standing together with our Singapore enterprises, with our SMEs. We will support and empower our enterprises as they transform and grow be it an SME hoping to expand abroad or an SME embarking on AI or heartland shops and stalls seeking more customers. We will spare no effort to support them every step of the way.

As we forge ahead together, we invite all Singaporeans to join us in energising our heartlands. Let us show them our support during this SG60 year, by patronising our heartland shops and participating in their placemaking activities. Let us enjoy and celebrate our vibrant and beloved heartlands. As we do so, we affirm our Singaporean identity with pride and joy.

The Chairman : Minister of State Tan.

The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Mr Alvin Tan) : Chairman, the global trading system is coming under severe strain. We are entering uncharted waters, as Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said, marked by heightened geopolitical tensions, rise of economic nationalism and supply chain disruptions.

Historically, Singapore has been the gateway to global trade, symbolised by our Singapore River, just outside this chamber. It has shaped our nation's identity – open, connected and adaptable to shifting global tides.

Our rivers thrive when its waters flow freely, so too must we keep our economic pathways flowing. We can do that by connecting Singapore to the world and connecting the world to Singapore.

We must always connect the world to Singapore, and flow people, businesses and trade through our shores. Last year, we welcomed 16.5 million international visitors and our tourism receipts for the first three quarters of 2024 soared to a historic high of $22.4 billion. They were drawn by the new and refreshed experiences we curated.

Our live entertainment scene sparkled last year, as we hosted international A-listers like Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Jay Chou. This year, we already have a few top acts, including Seventeen in January and G.E.M. over the weekend. We have a flow of exciting performances lined up this year as well, including our very own Stefanie Sun, KISS OF LIFE, BTS' j-hope's first solo concert and BABYMONSTER.

We also saw strong flow on our Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) front. Events like Singapore Airshow, Asia Pacific Maritime, and Food & Hotel Asia – Food & Beverage, all drew record numbers. I also hosted young leaders at last year's World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders Annual Summit.

And true to our positioning as the World's Best MICE City, we have been Asia Pacific's Top Meeting City for an incredible 21 consecutive years. For the first time ever, Singapore also ranked second in the International Congress and Convention Association's worldwide city rankings in 2023 .

We also partnered global world-class intellectual properties (IPs) to curate innovative experiences. For example, ArtScience Museum hosted The World of Studio Ghibli; and at Resorts World Sentosa, Harry Potter: Visions of Magic. We also lent support to the Louis Vuitton X Murakami pop-up in Joo Chiat.

Building on these flows, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has been working with tourism and lifestyle enterprises on new and fresh opportunities. As Mr Neil Parekh highlighted, our vision for the Tourism 2040 (T2040) roadmap will drive the next chapter of our quality tourism journey. STB will share more about T2040 in the coming months.

We also have a good flow of events and attractions lined up this year. In fact, this year we expect international visitor arrivals to reach between 17.0 and 18.5 million, bringing in approximately $29.0 to $30.5 billion in tourism receipts.

Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling, as Parliament's heartland guide, spoke about injecting vibrancy into our heartlands. As Parliament's tourist guide, let me take you through some of the new and rejuvenated offerings around Singapore.

Mr Chairman, our flow of MICE events remains vibrant, reflecting strong business confidence from organisers and delegates. This year, we will host inaugural events like the Business Aviation Asia Forum and Expo. Bloomberg's New Economy Forum will also return to Singapore in November for the fifth time.

Mr Edward Chia asked how we are working with local arts practitioners to create authentic tourism content. In January, Singapore Art Week (SAW) 2025 aggregated over 160 art events and featured many local artists. And for the third time, ART SG returned to Singapore as part of SAW, with 105 galleries from 30 countries and territories around the world.

To Ms Usha Chandradas' question, signature lifestyle events, including music festivals, increases our appeal to global talent and visitors and this boosts tourism and economic spillovers. They also provide a stage for our local creatives to showcase their talent, like Kin Leonn and Iman Fandi. STB will continue working with stakeholders, including our National Arts Council (NAC) to create more opportunities for our local music ecosystem. We will continue to support these events, through financial and non-financial means, to build a diverse pipeline. And we welcome compelling music festival proposals that bring strong economic benefits to Singapore.

For sports fans, we will host the National Basketball Association (NBA) Rising Stars Invitational in June, which will be the first regional youth basketball event in Asia. This comes after we hosted the Singapore Tennis Open and Singapore Smash just last month.

Our Integrated Resorts will also unveil world-class tourism offerings as part of their ambitious expansion plans. When completed in 2029, Marina Bay Sands' upcoming fourth tower will redefine our iconic skyline.

Over at Resorts World Sentosa, I broke ground for its new waterfront lifestyle development in November 2024, which will feature an exciting new promenade with entertainment, retail and dining experiences. I also opened Illumination's Minion Land just in time for the March school holidays and, later this year, we will open the Singapore Oceanarium, which will be three times the size of our current SEA Aquarium.

In a few years, we will also open Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Singapore.

Let us now go from the South of Singapore to the North of Singapore in Mandai. Following the opening of Bird Paradise in 2023, new features in Mandai await all of us this year. I launched the public Mandai Boardwalk in January 2025, which offers breathtaking views of Upper Seletar Reservoir and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

We are also opening Rainforest Wild ASIA, Singapore's fifth zoological park. It will be home to 29 iconic animal species. I visited a few weeks ago for a preview and Minister Grace Fu will officially open it next Wednesday. Then there is also Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree, which opens next month. It blends architecture with nature, offering rooms, including tree houses, nestled in lush greenery. Next year, we look forward to opening the Rainforest Wild Africa.

Mr Chairman, this flow of new offerings marks our 60th year of Independence and our tourism sector has come a long way since. I spend plenty of time with our tourism sector – our workers and our visitors. The amazing tourism offerings we enjoy today is testament to their work over the past 60 years.

That is why I am happy to announce that our attractions are rolling out several deals in celebration of SG60. We are working with the Association of Singapore Attractions (ASA) and our tourism businesses to curate SG60 promotions, including family-friendly bundles and discounts.

For instance, Gardens by the Bay will launch an exclusive SG60 Wonder Blooms Pass for citizens and residents to enjoy over 60% discounts on unlimited visits to six stunning upcoming floral displays in our Flower Dome. Mandai Wildlife Reserve will also offer exclusive deals across its parks from May to August. We will launch these deals on our SG60 website today, so please book and visit our attractions and enjoy these amazing offers.

Then let us also go on a cruise! Like on Disney Adventure cruise ship in Singapore, which is starting in December. It is the first-ever Disney Cruise Line ship to homeport in Asia. Many new cruise ships will also be calling in Singapore, including Resorts World Cruises' Star Voyager and the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's Luminara.

As cruise lead coordinator for ASEAN, we are working with our neighbours on new sailing itineraries, tapping the fast-growing potential of cruise tourism to attract even more visitors to visit Southeast Asia from Singapore. I discussed this with tourism ministers in Johor just in January 2025.

Mr Chairman, I shared how we are connecting the world to Singapore through our robust flow of tourism and attraction offerings. Equally important is to connect Singapore to the world.

That is why we are deepening our relationship with our trade partners globally.

Ms Tin Pei Ling asked how we are strengthening our trade links. Our approach is simple: we are working with our trade partners to harness complementary strengths, improve market access and also to drive mutual growth. This will unlock more opportunities for businesses, talent and capital to flow efficiently across economies.

First, let me speak about ASEAN. We are doubling down on regional economic integration with our ASEAN partners to create an ecosystem where trade, investments, resources and innovation flow seamlessly, making our region jointly more competitive.

Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong shared about our progress on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework and the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) to enhance regional trade networks. Beyond these, we also substantially concluded the second upgrade of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area last year and aim to fully conclude the upgrade this year.

Second, we are strengthening bilateral economic ties with key partners, such as US, China, India, Vietnam and Malaysia. We commemorated the 20th Anniversary of the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement last year. It is a cornerstone agreement which remains one of our most actively used Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). We have built upon this foundation in new areas such as the digital economy, AI, supply chain resilience and energy, as Minister Tan See Leng mentioned.

With China, our China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement Further Upgrade Protocol entered into force on 31 December 2024. It introduces more liberal and transparent trade rules, so Singapore investors and suppliers can enjoy better market access to China and greater confidence when doing businesses there.

In India, annual bilateral trade has grown over 2.5 times since 2005, from $20 billion to $52.3 billion in 2023. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official visit in September 2024, Singapore and India agreed to elevate our relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Then in January 2025, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam's State visit to India commemorated 60 years of diplomatic tides. During the visit, Singapore companies signed MOUs with the Odisha government, including one signed between Surbana Jurong Group and Odisha on sustainable urban planning.

In Vietnam, today, Singapore is among Vietnam's top investors and we are unlocking new investment opportunities for our businesses there. These span renewable energy and carbon credits. They will form an integral part of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership upgrade with Vietnam. Enterprise Singapore and Vietnam's Foreign Investment Agency have also established the Singapore Unit, which is a single point of contact to provide support for Singapore companies investing in Vietnam.

On Malaysia, Ms Usha Chandradas asked about our arts plans for the JS-SEZ. We will discuss with Malaysia how the arts sector can complement our priority areas in the SEZ.

We are also ensuring that our businesses can make the full use and the most of the FTAs that we have signed, so that they can gain better access to global markets and benefit from greater efficiency and lower business costs when trading with our FTA partners. So, we worked with SBF to conduct 11 FTA outreach events last year, attended by over 911 companies.

I attended some of these together with Mr Mark Lee. These sessions allow us to provide customised advisory support for Singapore companies to use FTAs for exports and internationalisation. For instance, SGProtein Pte Ltd, which is a plant-based protein food manufacturer, enhanced its competitiveness in the Korean market with 8% saved in tariffs by using the ASEAN-Korea FTA and the Korea-Singapore FTA.

Sir, even as we deepen our relationship with key partners, we must also broaden our horizons. Ms Tin Pei Ling and Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked how we are diversifying our trade. Today, we have 27 FTAs and 43 Bilateral Investment Treaties. These are all in force across the globe and we are doing more.

First, we are securing partnerships with regions a little bit further away from us, to help us stay relevant amid global uncertainties and shifting tides. And that is to enable our businesses to improve supply chain resilience and unlock new market opportunities.

Sir, I visited Latin America with my colleagues many times to work on two trade deals. In 2022, we signed the Pacific Alliance-Singapore FTA; and the Pacific Alliance, which comprises Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, collectively forms the eighth largest economy in the world. I am pleased to share that the FTA is very close to coming into effect.

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We also recently signed the MERCOSUR-Singapore FTA with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and we are in the process of working very hard to get it ratified as well. As the first FTA between MERCOSUR and a Southeast Asian country, this FTA will pave the way for greater economic cooperation between both our regions.

We are also doing exciting work in the Middle East. In 2023, we established our first Strategic Partnership with a Middle East country, Saudi Arabia. At the fourth Saudi Arabia-Singapore Joint Committee meeting last month, we discussed collaboration in connectivity, energy, digital economy and innovation. We also announced new collaborations in logistics and port automation, and started negotiations to update our existing Bilateral Investment Treaty, which entered into force in 2007.

Mr Chairman, we are also strengthening ties with Africa, a vast, young and rapidly growing region with vast potential. I have visited Africa many times too. In fact, I was just in Rwanda last week to advance discussions on Article 6 carbon credits cooperation, digital and AI, and fintech. I have also met many Singapore-based companies who are venturing into Africa, including GenZero, an investment firm exploring carbon credit projects in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. This year, we will host the Africa Singapore Business Forum, a biennial platform that has connected over 5,000 business leaders from Africa and Asia since 2016. [ Please refer to " Clarification by Minister of State for Trade and Industry ", Official Report, 6 March 2025, Vol 95, Issue 159, Correction By Written Statement section. ]

We will also continue to broaden our trade partnerships in the digital and green economies. We are expanding our networks of Digital Economy Agreements (DEAs). DEAs help us integrate into the global digital economy and enhance digital trade flows. Through DEAs, we work with other countries to establish rules and standards around issues like personal data and online consumer protection. They enable our businesses to capitalise on cross-border digital services.

We have four DEAs in force, and are expanding the network. Last year, we concluded the European Union-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement and are negotiating a DEA with the European Free Trade Association.

Sir, recent global developments have underscored the importance of plurilateral initiatives to address emerging issues like digital trade. As a founding member of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) alongside Chile and New Zealand, we continue to champion DEPA's expansion. And many countries are keen to join DEPA. Last year, the Republic of Korea joined DEPA and Costa Rica's accession is nearly finalised. Accession negotiations with Canada, China and Peru are also ongoing. And other economies, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), El Salvador and Ukraine, have also applied to join.

On the multilateral front, Singapore co-convenes the World Trade Organization (WTO) Joint Statement Initiative on E-Commerce with Australia and Japan. This helps establish global rules in digital trade. And after five years of negotiations, we reached an agreement on the text last year, supported by around 70 members. We are working to incorporate the agreement into the WTO and expand its membership.

We are also advancing our Green Economy Agreements (GEAs) to catalyse collaborations in green innovation and trade flows in sustainable products, and ultimately accelerate our low-carbon transition.

Under our GEA with Australia, we established a co-innovation programme for SMEs. We call this the Go Green Co-Innovation Programme (GGCIP) to incentivise partnerships between Australian and Singapore enterprises. The programme has supported five projects, including the joint venture between Singapore-based ESGpedia and Australia's FootprintLab, to develop an AI-powered sustainability reporting tool to help businesses with climate disclosure and sustainable supply chain management.

In November, we also launched a joint working group on trade and the green economy with New Zealand and Chile, with plans to enhance cross-border trade and investment in green growth areas.

Mr Chairman, our iconic Singapore River is a symbol of our nation's success story – a dynamic hub that facilitates the seamless flow of people, trade and capital through our shores and as a gateway for the world. Our success as a nation depends on us continuing to be open and connected.

And therefore, to stay competitive, we must sharpen our edge by fostering innovation, building strong enterprises and investing in our people. Government will support our businesses as they navigate the ever-changing currents of the global economy. By building upon our strong foundations, we will enhance connectivity, expand opportunities and strengthen Singapore's role as a gateway for people, trade and capital flow.

Together, we will grow our economy, unlock new potential, transform enterprises and connect Singapore to the world, ensuring our collective success as we chart a bold course forward.

The Chairman : Clarifications. Mr Liang Eng Hwa.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Bukit Panjang) : Thank you, Sir. Deputy Prime Minister Gan, in his speech and in response to my query, mentioned that the worst case scenario for Singapore amidst an ongoing US-China contestation could be a global trade war. So, I would like to further ask the Deputy Prime Minister w hat Singapore is doing to mitigate that potential impact.

And also, if I can ask the Deputy Prime Minister to share how he sees our relationship with US and with China, whether in the event of a global trade war, would that put us in a better position to manage the downsides?

Mr Gan Kim Yong : First, I must say that I wish a global trade war will not happen, but we must always be prepared because the external environment, as I said, will become increasingly difficult and challenging for us. But what Singapore should do is to continue to deepen our value proposition for businesses and for our trading partners. We must continue to be a reliable, consistent partner with other countries so that we will continue to be a valued player in the global economy. I think that is the fundamental.

Secondly, we must also continue to find opportunities to deepen our collaboration within the region, with different parties, with like-minded countries and economies. This way, we can then continue to expand and grow our economic space in the global economy. ASEAN is one area. As I mentioned, it is a fast-growing area and I think we will continue to work with the ASEAN partners to see how we can deepen our integration within ASEAN so that we have more opportunities for us.

But at the same time, as I mentioned in my speech, we continue to expand our collaboration with our neighbours particularly, and see how we can leverage on each other's strengths so that when we combine together, we have a a better value proposition for our trading partners and our business partners globally.

But also it is important for us to explore new areas of growth and opportunities for collaboration. For example, I mentioned about digital economy, which is a new platform. It is not the same as traditional FTAs. It is not just about tariffs and imports or exports, but it is about collaboration and interoperability in developing the digital capability to strengthen our own enterprises, giving them the better opportunity to expand in the region. So, I think this is something that we will continue to do.

The Member talked about US-China relationship and how Singapore can play a role. I think it is not easy. We are a very small economy. We hope to be able to continue to play a constructive role between the two countries. And we have to continue to remain nimble and to monitor the development. And I am sure every Member, and nowadays, when you wake up in the morning, open the newspaper, the first thing you see is what are the major news. And every time, you are shocked into waking up with the news. And now, without reading the newspaper, you can read it on your mobile phone, and these are news alerts. And I think you just have to take it when it comes and always be nimble, be prepared to move very quickly. This also speaks to the strength of Singapore as a small economy. We are able to a very compact economy. We are able to move very quickly, we are able to respond very fast.

So, it is important for us to work closely with the enterprises and with our businesses through the various trade associations and organisations to see how we can bring our businesses along. Keep them informed on the developments around the world, enable them and equip them so that they are able to adjust their supply chains, their production lines and their export markets quite quickly.

At the same time, it is important for us to continue to invest in our people so that they acquire new skills and new capabilities because as the global economy changes, new opportunities will emerge. But we must have the skills to be able to tap into these opportunities. So, I think getting our industries and enterprises to be nimble and move fast, investing in training of our people, these are fundamentals to keep Singapore's economy resilient and continue to grow.

The Chairman : Ms Jessica Tan.

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast) : Thank you, Mr Chairman. My clarification relates to supporting SMEs in terms of internationalising, and it is for Minister of State Tan. He shared on SGProtein and how it has enhanced its competitiveness in the Korean market by tapping the FTAs, and he has also shared on the many FTAs that we are working on. Can more be shared on how the Government and SBF are working together to support our SMEs in terms of better tapping these FTAs and getting access to new markets?

Mr Alvin Tan : Sir, I thank Ms Jessica Tan for her question. In fact, it is not just enough for us to expand our FTAs and sign these FTAs even in far flung countries, it is also important for us to work very closely with our business associations, like SBF and others, to take them there and show them what the business opportunities are. And also, while they are in Singapore, to give them the tools and the support for them to take up these advantages as they look at how to lower their costs and increase their business efficiency.

There are a few things maybe I want to just share with Ms Jessica Tan. The first is we have a tariff finder tool now. That was developed by Enterprise Singapore, and the example that I gave earlier, SGProtein, can access, through this tariff finder tool, crucial information on import duties and formalities, FTA preferential duties and rules of origin for potential export market. So, it helps them to navigate this and then test how much they would have to pay, for example, or how they can increase their efficiency.

SBF has been working very closely with us to provide companies like SGProtein with on-site guidance on, for example, how even to produce and prepare a manufacturing cost statement application. And this is a very crucial step because it helps to demonstrate local content and to qualify for FTA benefits.

I also wanted to highlight that MTI and Enterprise Singapore also, again working with SBF, has launched a new Centre for Future of Trade and Investment (CFOTI) just last year. CFOTI helps businesses address issues related to trade compliance and also expands the capacity to benefit on trade agreements. There are also bespoke advisory support through this, for our SMEs to make the best use of FTAs. So, I encourage our SMEs to work closely with us, Enterprise Singapore, as well as our trade associations, like SBF, to fully utilise these FTAs.

The Chairman : Mr Mark Lee.

Mr Mark Lee (Nominated Member) : I would like to thank Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling, Second Minister Tan See Leng, Deputy Prime Minister Gan and those who were involved in the AfA.

I think from the announcements today, it truly shows that when there are constructive comments, the Government is not tone deaf but is actually tuned in to make sure that Singapore remains agile and business-friendly.

For this AFA, I would like to ask for the Government to consider continuing this platform from time to time, so as to reinforce the strong partnership between the Government and the business community. That is my first clarification.

The second clarification is in regard to the establishment of the $1 billion Private Credit Growth Fund. This is definitely a good opportunity and an important source of alternative financing. There are currently already many private credit fund providers, mainly catering to larger MNEs and large local corporates, and often leave their local enterprises underserved. I would like to ask the Deputy Prime Minister, to ensure targeted support for local enterprises, will the cost of funds provided to the Private Credit Growth Fund's fund managers be set at a preferential and competitive rate, so that it ensures that local enterprises benefit directly from the lower borrowing cost?

2.00 pm

Ms Low Yen Ling : I would like to represent the whole MTI family – not just MTI, but also Enterprise Singapore, EDB and all our economic agencies – to thank SBF and Mr Mark Lee for co-chairing the AfA on Business Competitiveness, and also to Nominated Member of Parliament Mr Neil Parekh for being part of the AfA as well.

We also want to thank the 13 TACs that joined us in this journey from February to November last year. It was very intense. We consulted many of the businesses, not just sectoral but also the industry and trade associations and so on. That really is the usual engagement, and we must continue to sustain this momentum.

That is why earlier, during Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong's speech, you heard him mentioning that he helms the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Pro-Enterprise Rules Review. In the last few months, I joined him as well as Minister Shanmugam, Minister Tan See Leng, Minister Desmond Lee and Minister Chee Hong Tat in hosting discussions with more than 140 chief executive officers and chief experience officers of SMEs to continue to understand, sector by sector, if there are any pain points or any areas that we can look at to further improve the whole-of-Government regulatory agility.

I want to reassure Mr Mark Lee and in fact, the business community that MTI and not just MTI, now that we have set up the SME PEO from 26 March onwards as a key coordination unit to galvanise the whole-of-Government to lean forward, to continue to work with the business sector to improve the regulatory agility, to better support our businesses to seize opportunities overseas.

Mr Gan Kim Yong : There is a second part of the question that maybe I can address – the suggestion about the Private Credit Growth Fund.

This is a scheme that is designed to fill the gap in the financing framework. We have equity financing, we have the normal commercial loans, but some of these high-growth companies are in a very niche area and they are not able to find financing so easily available. And the owners, the entrepreneurs, are also not keen to be diluted. They want to retain control of their businesses. Therefore, equity investment may not be suitable for them. They are looking for alternative financing. This private credit allows more flexibility for the structure of the financing to be designed to suit the needs of the specific companies.

So, it is not meant to be a subsidy. It is not meant to be for businesses that are having difficulties or need subsidies or support for overseas expansion. We have other schemes. Enterprise Singapore has a host of schemes. I have mentioned some of them, like GIA and so on. These are other schemes that will support businesses going overseas, expanding their regional presence, even including R&D funds and efforts and so on.

So, there are different schemes designed for different purposes. For this particular private credit scheme, it is really meant to fill a gap in the financing framework. So, I hope Mr Lee understands that.

The Chairman : Mr Neil Parekh.

Mr Neil Parekh Nimil Rajnikant (Nominated Member) : I just want to thank the whole MTI team for a very comprehensive analysis and presentation and a very detailed Budget – a very good Budget in my view. I have a couple of clarifications.

The Deputy Prime Minister spoke about the NSTIC (R&D Fab) to drive advanced semi-conductor research and innovation. May I ask why is advanced packaging the initial focus of this facility and will it be expanded to other areas very shortly? What is the immediate benefit to our local semi-conductor system with this NSTIC (R&D Fab)?

The second question is: we have seen newspaper reports recently on NTUC researchers discovering a geothermal reservoir in Yishun. Perhaps MTI can provide an update on its study on the potential of geothermal energy going forward.

Lastly, on private credit, having spent part of my life in the business, I think $1 billion will be too small. Perhaps, the purpose should be to use that as a base to harness external funds and perhaps make that $10 billion or more going forward. So, serving that as $1 billion from MTI, with $9 billion raised from the private sector.

Mr Gan Kim Yong : Thank you. I will ask Minister Tan See Leng to respond to the geothermal energy source. Let me just focus first on the NSTIC (R&D Fab).

This facility really is an expansion of the existing NSTIC facility run by A*STAR. The idea is to focus first on advanced packaging because advanced packaging is a foundational technology for many of the advanced technologies for semi-conductor, in order to pack more and more components into the chips. The idea is to increase the density and advanced packaging plays a very important role in allowing that to happen. So, it is a key fundamental foundational technology.

We started investing in this technology since 2011 and we have built a significant capability in this area. That is why it is important for us to encourage investment in the R&D in this particular aspect of the technology, particularly, not just the multinational corporations (MNCs), but also the local SMEs.

So, this is a starting point. We will allow the NSTIC (R&D Fab) to focus, first, on advanced packaging. But this is not the only area. We will keep our options open and keep our doors open, and we welcome other emerging technologies which may become important and critical for us. We will also make these facilities available to other companies which have emerging technologies to invest in R&D.

The Member mentioned $1 billion. I presume he is talking about the Private Credit Growth Fund. We will be very happy if we can talk to Mr Neil Parekh to raise the other $9 billion, if he can help us do so. But I must say that, generally, I think this is the seed money the Government has to put in. Hopefully, we can kickstart this process. We will keep our doors open for private credit which wants to come in and to join us in this journey.

As I mentioned in my speech, when fund managers and investors are more familiar in this space of private credit, we may then be able to catalyse more funds from outside. So, I do agree with the Member. We look at this $1 billion as seed money. We hope to be able to raise even more capital in time to come for this fund. But I think this is a good start.

Dr Tan See Leng : I thank Mr Neil Parekh for his clarification. I think the Member was referring to Nanyang Technological University's (NTU's) study, not "NTUC". I think we will be dealing a lot with NTUC later on in MOM's COS debate. In NTUC, it is – just for the benefit of all my brothers and sisters in NTUC – every worker matters, not every power source matters.

I think we all know Singapore, as a country, we are alternative energy-disadvantaged and I have mentioned many times in the past that we will explore every possible decarbonisation pathway. So, nothing is off the table.

One of the indigenous energy options that we have, that we are investigating is geothermal energy. In 2023, EMA issued a request for proposal for a Singapore-wide non-invasive geophysical study to assess Singapore's deep geothermal resource potential at depths of up to 10 kilometres. This is for the purpose of power generation. So, I want to emphasise, EMA is to assess the deep geothermal resource potential. This is actually quite different from NTU's study, which is conventional geothermal potential.

I am actually pleased to update that this month, we are commencing an airborne survey of our geothermal energy potential. We hope and we aim to complete this study in about a year's time. Again, like I said, in terms of giving a very clear demarcation, NTU's study focuses on establishing the localised potential at areas surveyed up to a depth of about four kilometres. So, it is conventional. Whereas ours is the deep sort of geothermal assessment, which is up to 10 kilometres.

Of course, given the fact that we have an existing Sembawang hot spring, I know that many of my comrades are also concerned about how that would impact Sembawang. The Singapore Government, let me reassure everyone, is not conducting any invasive geophysical studies that could affect the existing hot spring.

The geothermal drillings have been carried out by NTU sites. They were at sites that were 2.5 kilometres and 700 metres away, almost a kilometre away from the Sembawang hot spring. They were already completed in early 2024.

Our EMA's ongoing studies, they are non-invasive because we are conducting airborne and land-based surveys of our entire country's geophysical landscape for a better assessment of the deep geothermal potential. As with every study, every new infrastructural development that we undertake, all of the necessary environmental assessments will be conducted. I hope I have given Members enough reassurance as well as understanding of what we know thus far.

The Chairman : Ms Sylvia Lim.

Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied) : Chairman, I have two clarifications for Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling on my cut on scams, which she touched on briefly.

First, she mentioned the whole-of-Government efforts through the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Scams (IMCS). I read that MTI is also represented on that committee. So, I would like to understand a little bit more on what is MTI's interest and contribution so far to the work of the IMCS. That is the first question.

The second question is: of course, underlying my cut is the issue of consumer protection because as far as scams are concerned, we often find that the consumer is actually dealing with service providers like banks, telecommunications companies (telcos) and social media companies, and there is some unequal bargaining power there.

So, I would like to understand whether the CCCS is actually looking into this area. Is it doing anything in the field of online scams to protect consumers or to do some standard setting?

Ms Low Yen Ling : Chairman, I want to thank Ms Sylvia Lim for her two clarifications.

I will address the second one first. I understand where the Member is coming from when she shared her thinking when she delivered her cut yesterday. As shared by Minister of State Sun Xueling during the Ministry of Home Affair's (MHA's) COS debate, a majority of the scams involve self-effected transfers of money to scammers as well as cryptocurrency scams.

These are, one, criminal in nature and two, often carried out by highly sophisticated criminal networks. The third point really is that a lot of these are really based out of Singapore. So, such scams are, hence, more appropriately handled by our law enforcement authorities.

But I want to assure her that to ensure a collective effort in tackling scams, the Singapore Government works closely not just mounting a whole-of-Government approach, but also with the private sector. Members have heard from Minister of State Sun Xueling, with the various tech companies and so on, as well as community partners, to tackle scams, go upstream, not just engaging the seniors, but it can affect people of all ages and all backgrounds.

So, the anti-scam efforts are coordinated by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Scams, which comprises representatives from MHA, Singapore Police Force, MDDI, IMDA, MAS and other public agencies. MTI sits in, and if there are relevant cases that are relevant to our economic agency, that is where we will bridge the communications.

Notwithstanding that, I want to assure the Member that where there are unfair practices by, say, suppliers being involved, CCCS can certainly take them to task under our CPFTA. This really forms part of the whole-of-Government approach, where agencies can work together to safeguard consumer interest.

The Chairman : Ms Foo Mee Har.

Ms Foo Mee Har (West Coast) : Chairman, I have two questions for the Deputy Prime Minister. The first one is relating to R&D. The Deputy Prime Minister spoke about R&D infrastructure in Singapore and how it is important as part of our economic growth. I spoke about this during my COS cut where I said that equally important is R&D being commercialised.

2.15 pm

So, I would like to ask the Deputy Prime Minister how specifically local enterprises will benefit with all the R&D spent, how are we going to encourage them to take this up, how are we going to encourage and support them to really take this R&D and commercialise it into applications? That is one.

The second one I just like to weigh in to hon Member Neil Parekh's comment. I probably take the other end of conservatism. He talked to balance the ambition; I think private credit is quite a science, related to a lot of risk management as well, if Government is going to go into this. Traditionally, when we co-fund, the bank comes in and you risk-share. But I would very much like to know that given that it is not small sum, $1 billion that the Government is going into, how is this going to be underwritten, in terms of risk management? How are you going to pick which company you are going to back pick? Because $1 billion will not go very far and we want to make sure that this is a good experience and that we can bag more companies? So, which agency is going to administer this and the partnerships?

Mr Gan Kim Yong : With regard to the R&D and the commercialisation of the R&D efforts and outcomes, the NSTIC (R&D Fab) I mentioned is one such example that has facilities to help companies to do their R&D and to commercialise the R&D. Because the facilities are very costly and very expensive; the SMEs will not be able to have access to these facilities, other than through NSTIC. Therefore, that is one area that we do. A*STAR does the same for many other domains in the industry.

So, we partner our private sector to allow them to have access R&D facilities. But it is not just the hardware facilities, because NSTIC and A*STAR also provide consultancy advice on how to do their R&D from a technical point but, at the same time, how to commercialise their products. Because A*STAR, meaning the research centre, has a lot of experience in commercialising some of their research outcomes. That will play a very important role.

We also have IPI that is set up under Enterprise Singapore that provides advisory on particularly IP rights, whether they are making use of IP that is already available, how to take advantage of the existing IP to commercialise the IP, or to register their own IP that they have developed. IPI will do that part. We also have a collaboration with IHLs through our technology transfer officers to help companies on to how to translate their technology into commercial products. There are many platforms to allow us to work in partnership with our companies to commercialise their R&D efforts.

One other aspect of the at NSTIC, which I mentioned in my speech, is the collaboration between the MNCs and the SMEs. Because they are able to work together, the SMEs will understand the needs of the larger companies to develop their products to be able to serve the MNCs. This also encourages a collaboration between MNCs, which have more resources, and to help the SMEs to also commercialise their R&D products. That is on the R&D side.

The Member also talked about the $1 billion credit. It is not a small sum. I do appreciate that it is limited because it is just $1 billion. We hope the Member can collectively persuade Ministry of Finance to give us a bit more in time to come. But I do agree that we need to progress very carefully and conservatively to make sure that this $1 billion is put to good use.

So, we do intend to go out to look for fund managers with a good track record, to have experience in managing private equity, private credit and managing projects, so that we are able to leverage on the expertise of these fund managers to manage the $1 billion so that we can put it to good use.

The Chairman : We are approaching the end of our guillotine time. I will call on Mr Saktiandi Supaat. You raised your hand earlier? Because you had four cuts, so I will give you the floor.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh) : Thank you, Mr Chairman, I thought I want to let others have the chance. But I have just one quick clarification for Minister Tan. I had filed a cut on the infrastructure for energy source, in terms of energy infrastructure. The Minister shared earlier about the hydrogen strategy and the ammonia strategy. Can Minister share about what our budgeting plans for power sourcing infrastructure in terms of landing points? I know ammonia and hydrogen and nuclear is still at the research phase and we are still investigating on those. But how are our plans of planning or investing on infrastructure for those, including the landing points for imported energy sources?

Dr Tan See Leng : I thank Mr Saktiandi for his clarification. For the renewable energy imports, I have shared that, given the progress that we have had in our negotiations with our neighbours, we have upped the ambition from four gigawatts to six gigawatts. And the interconnectors, for the landing sites, we have preliminarily identified some of the sites, the details of which I am not at liberty to reveal at this point in time.

For the interconnectors, broadly, there are two types – the high voltage direct current, which entails significantly longer distance traversing the subsea distances. And then, you have the relatively less expensive alternating current type of subsea cable. So, depending on the site, the source of the generation of that renewable energy source, the appropriate type of cable would be utilised.

At this particular point in time, the conditional licence that we have issued are for relatively closer source generation sources, namely, coming from the Batam, Bintan and Karimun corridor. The Member would have read in the open-source media that we have also awarded conditional approvals to further up north from Indochina and also, at the same time, potentially from Australia as well. Those would involve higher cost cable, involving high voltage direct current subsea cables. That covers one big part of renewable energy imports.

On the carbon capture storage, we are still studying the model working with the S-Hub. Looking at the aggregation of the hard to abate carbon intensive sectors, this would be quite a fair bit of the petrochemical industry on Jurong Island. Looking at the transportation and, eventually, the storage of the carbon that we have captured, at this point in time, given the amounts that are involved, we are still working with some of the potential partners.

For ammonia and hydrogen, I have also stated earlier on that hydrogen, at this point in time, even though it is a technically feasible pathway, the transportation of hydrogen, by itself, is very costly. So, we are using ammonia as a pilot. We have a pathfinder project where we are going to work with a couple of potential consortia to work out when it comes of scale, whether it would be a feasible and a commercially viable pathway. For the project, because it is very small, it is going to constitute like 0.5% of our overall energy mix. We are looking, as a pilot pathfinder, about between 50 to 60 megawatts. We will provide initial seed funding to assess the viability of that pathway.

The sum of it all is that we have set aside the budget. Today, given the different thresholds that we have not arrived at yet, the drawdown from the FEF is still not there. But we have topped it up because we envisage that in the coming quarters ahead, once we cross certain key thresholds, the drawdown will happen.

The Chairman : I am sorry. We have reached our guillotine time. Can I invite Mr Liang, if you would like to draw your amendment?

2.25 pm

Mr Liang Eng Hwa : Chairman, allow me to thank Deputy Prime Minister Gan, Minister Tan See Ling, Senior Minister of State Low Yen Ling and Minister of State Alvin Tan for their very thorough responses to our cuts and clarifications. It leaves me to just wish the MTI family every success in growing our economy, hopefully, once again, to outperform our forecasted range of 1% to 3% growth for 2025. Sir, with that, I seek leave to withdraw my amendment.

[(proc text) Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. (proc text)]

[(proc text) The sum of $1,638,234,500 for Head V ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates. (proc text)]

[(proc text) The sum of $6,309,880,900 for Head V ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates. (proc text)]

The Chairman : We have sat for almost four-and-an-half hours. I propose to take a break now. Order.

[(proc text) Thereupon Mr Speaker left the Chair of the Committee and took the Chair of the House. (proc text)]

Mr Speaker : Order. I propose to take a break now. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair at 2.45 pm.

Sitting accordingly suspended

at 2.27 pm until 2.45 pm.

Sitting resumed at 2.45 pm.

[Deputy Speaker (Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo) in the Chair]

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