Remarks by Senior Minister of State for Transport, Mr Chee Hong Tat at the Virtual Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Signing Ceremony between PT YCH Indonesia and PT Multi Terminal Indonesia

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

1.     It is my pleasure to join you today for the MOU Signing Ceremony between PT YCH Indonesia and PT Multi Terminal Indonesia (MTI). This collaboration will study and develop the third Smart Growth Connect (SGConnect) project, a Smart Growth Centre, in Marunda, Jakarta.

2.     Singapore-Indonesia bilateral relations have their foundations in mutual trust and respect, and shared interests in a broad range of areas. In this substantive and longstanding relationship, the business communities in Singapore and Indonesia continue to play an important role in strengthening and enhancing our bilateral ties, while bringing new opportunities for our peoples to prosper together. Notably, even amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral cooperation in the economic sphere remains robust and forward-looking.

3.     Singapore has been the largest foreign investor in Indonesia since 2014. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, our investments in Indonesia grew by 6.5% year-on-year to reach a record US$9.8 billion. This year, we welcomed the entry into force, of the Singapore-Indonesia Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), which will provide a further boost to investor confidence in our two countries.

4.     As Singapore and Indonesia attempt to navigate our way to normalcy amidst still challenging conditions, we are also discussing ways to resume cross-border travel in a safe and cautious manner. As we had announced earlier, Singapore’s unilateral Vaccinated Travel Lane with Indonesia will come into effect in three days’ time, from 29 November 2021. I look forward to the time when we can resume the extensive people-to-people exchanges between our two countries with proper safe management measures in place.

5.     As we gradually transition towards a post-pandemic environment, there is scope for Singapore and Indonesia to build on our existing linkages and explore new areas of collaboration. A good example is the Smart Growth Centre, which will unlock new opportunities for enhancing supply chains. The Smart Growth Centre will provide the necessary infrastructure to support end-to-end visibility of goods movement, enable multimodal transport flexibility, and improve supply chain efficiency. It will create jobs for workers in Marunda, and growth opportunities for our two countries, which is a win-win partnership.

6.     The impact and contributions of Indonesia’s Smart Growth Centre has the potential to go beyond its borders. Notably, the Smart Growth Centre will also support the ASEAN Connectivity Master Plan 2025, as the third SGConnect project following Vietnam’s SuperPort and Cambodia’s Phnom Penh Logistics Complex.

7.     I wish PT YCH Indonesia and PT MTI success in developing the Smart Growth Centre, which will add resilience and efficiency to supply chains within ASEAN and beyond. And I hope this project will be yet another exciting chapter in deepening bilateral cooperation between our companies and peoples.

8.     Thank you.