China and Singapore announced that they have reached a protocol to further upgrade the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA), while also agreeing on a 30-day mutual visa exemption arrangement for ordinary passport holders.
The news came as Ding Xuexiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and vice premier of the State Council, met in Tianjin with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of the Republic of Singapore Lawrence Wong.
Ding said that this year is of special significance to the development of China-Singapore relations. He called on the two sides to closely focus on the new orientation of China-Singapore relations, make good use of the meeting platform of the bilateral cooperation mechanism, promote the upgrading of existing cooperation, explore more new areas of cooperation, and jointly implement the important consensus of the leaders of the two countries.
Singapore-China relations enjoy a strong momentum of development and the Belt and Road Initiative has yielded fruitful results, Wong said, adding that Singapore is willing to work with China to further strengthen exchanges at all levels, deepen the synergy of development strategies, give full play to the role of bilateral cooperation mechanisms and push for new development in bilateral relations.
Both parties agreed to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, continue to expand and strengthen the building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, deepen cooperation in third-party markets, upgrade key cooperation projects, actively expand cooperation in digital economy and ocean energy, build a pattern of diversified and interactive cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and jointly uphold the multilateral trading system.
They also announced 24 outcomes of cooperation, including a protocol to further upgrade the CSFTA, and 30-day mutual visa exemption arrangement for ordinary passport holders
