Photo taken on April 21, 2014 shows the signing ceremony of Singapore-China(Guangdong) Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference in Singapore. Leaders of Singapore and China's coastal province of Guangdong, which has spearheaded the country's efforts to open up and reform, vowed to boost the cooperation between them on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Chen Jipeng)
SINGAPORE, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of Singapore and China' s coastal province of Guangdong, which has spearheaded the country 's efforts to open up and reform, vowed to boost the cooperation between them on Tuesday.
Hu Chunhua, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Guangdong Provincial CPC Committee, said in a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong here on Tuesday that China is keen to deepen the bilateral cooperation with Singapore, which has been an important cooperation partner.
China would like to work together with Singapore to build a New Silk Road on the Sea in the 21st century, as both the ancient Silk Road on the Sea involved both Guangdong and Singapore, the top provincial leader of Guangdong said on the third leg of a tour that also took him to Vietnam and Malaysia.
Hu called for efforts to further expand the interaction between the ruling parties of China and Singapore and boost the cooperation between Guangdong and Singapore on Guangzhou Knowledge City, a mega cooperation project involving both Guangdong province and Singapore as China seeks to upgrade its economy.
Lee, who is also secretary-general of the ruling People's Action Party, said he saw the good momentum in the bilateral relations between Singapore and China.
He called for efforts to expand the practical cooperation, increase the interaction between the ruling parties of the two countries and learn from each other's experience in government.
During the three-day visit to Singapore from Sunday to Tuesday, Hu also met Singapore's deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for Defense Chan Chun Sing and Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew.
Hu and Lui attended the Singapore-China (Guangdong) Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference in Singapore on Monday and witnessed the signing of cooperation documents covering 18 projects worth a total of 3.75 billion U.S. dollars.
There are ample room to further the cooperation between Singapore and Guangdong, particularly as both are trying to restructure and upgrade their economies, Hu said at the conference.
Guangdong has been known for the various pilot projects and the vitality of its economy as China gradually opened up and carried out reforms over the past decades. It had a gross domestic product (GDP) of over 1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2013, accounting for about one ninths of China's total GDP and about a quarter of China 's international trade. Enditem
