Progress in Supporting Singapore Companies Go Regional

Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what is the progress in supporting Singapore companies to go regional; (b) to date, how many companies has the Ministry successfully helped in regional expansion; and (c) what are the future plans, especially for expansion in ASEAN.

Helping Singapore companies internationalise is a key thrust of Singapore's economic strategy. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) alone represents a market of US$2.55 trillion in gross domestic product and a population of some 650 million1. The Government supports companies' internationalisation in several ways.

First, we provide targeted grant support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) making their first foray into overseas markets through the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) scheme. In 2017, 1,629 MRA grants were disbursed, which included support for SMEs expanding into regional markets like Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam, India and China for the first time.

To help companies that have had overseas exposure but which need more tailored assistance to expand overseas or access additional overseas markets, we provide help in the form of the Global Company Partnership (GCP) programme. In 2017, the GCP, which comes with a grant, assisted 419 companies in the areas of capability development, market access and manpower development for internationalisation. Of these, about 40% was for companies expanding within Southeast Asia. The Ministry of Trade and Industry and our agencies regularly review these grant schemes to provide more customised support to local enterprises seeking to develop new capabilities to scale up and internationalise.

Second, we support businesses' efforts to develop their manpower and talent to better understand regional markets. Examples of partnership with companies include the Youth Talent Programme which targets to send 1,000 students each year for work opportunities in overseas markets, the Professional Conversion Programme for Southeast Asia Ready Talent which integrates job-matching and reskilling to help professionals gain new skills for job roles within the Southeast Asian region, and the ASEAN Leadership Programme, which trains C-Suite business leaders on strategies to leverage ASEAN’s growth. Together, these programmes help to build up groups of Singapore students and professionals with more specialised knowledge and, in time, experience and networks in the Southeast Asia markets.

Third, Enterprise Singapore's (ESG's) international network of offices and in-market partners facilitates leads and connections for companies venturing overseas. In 2017, ESG (then-International Enterprise Singapore) successfully facilitated over 450 overseas projects for Singapore companies. The Plug and Play Network, which helps SMEs access new markets by providing in-market assistance in business advisory services, business matching and market set-up, was also launched in 2017. SMEs can now gain access to assistance in over 45 major cities across six Asian markets, including Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, New Delhi and Shanghai. ESG also partnered Trade Associations and Chambers to facilitate visits by about 6,000 businesses to overseas markets through business missions and participation in international trade shows.

As the ASEAN Chair this year, Singapore has also worked with member countries to deepen regional connectivity and improve trade facilitation. At the recently concluded 50th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting, two new agreements on services and trade facilitation were signed and an ASEAN Agreement on e-Commerce was endorsed. These agreements2, when they take effect, will give Singaporean businesses greater access to ASEAN's services markets and save costs and time for Singaporean businesses by making customs procedures less burdensome. The ASEAN Agreement on e-Commerce will lower the costs for Singaporean businesses by improving the speed and reliability of supply chains in cross-border e-commerce transactions.

The Government is firmly committed to continuing to support our companies to seize overseas opportunities and grow.