Malaysia suspends vaccinated travel lane with Singapore
The suspension will run from December 23 to January 20 next year…reports Asian Lite News
Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to suspend the sale of flight and bus tickets for the vaccinated travel lane (VTL) after a cluster of possible cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was detected in Singapore, Malaysia’s Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on Wednesday.
Malaysia suspends vaccinated travel lane with Singapore
The suspension will run from December 23 to January 20 next year, Khairy said in a statement following Singapore’s announcement of the same measure, Xinhua news agency reported.
Khairy said the cluster in Singapore involved three Covid infections. “All three cases did not have any travel history to foreign countries,” he said.
The VTL kicked off on November 29 and involved travel via the bridge connecting Malaysia to Singapore as well as an air corridor. The bridge link, or causeway, was one of the busiest crossing points in the world with a daily flow of hundreds of thousands of people in both directions before the pandemic.
The Singapore DEA will overhaul trade rules, so they are tailored to UK business. Wide-ranging benefits include better data flows, stronger cybersecurity and closer links between two hi-tech and services hubs…reports Asian Lite News.
The government on Thursday secured an agreement in principle with Singapore for a Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) that will cut costs, slash red tape and pave the way for a new era of trade.
It is the first digitally-focused trade agreement ever signed by a European nation. This comprehensive digital trade deal was agreed on in record time by International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Singapore Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations S. Iswaran after just six months of negotiations.
The DEA will take our trading relationship with Singapore – worth £16 billion in 2020 – to the next level by overhauling outdated trade rules that affect both goods and services exporters, making it easier for UK business to target new opportunities in both Singapore and lucrative Asian markets.
Anne Marie Trevelyan MP
A third of UK’s exports to Singapore are already digitally delivered, including in finance, advertising and engineering, and this deal will create new opportunities to expand digital trade. Services companies will be the big winners, from financial and telecoms giants like Standard Chartered or BT Group to software companies like Wales-based Awen Collective.
The deal will boost a sector that adds £151 billion to the economy and lifts wages, with workers in the digital economy earning around 50% more than the UK average. UK-founded tech unicorns are being created at a rate of almost one a week, and more will now be able to follow in the footsteps of British companies like Revolut, Darktrace and Checkout.com, which are already thriving in Singapore.
Goods exporters will also benefit from streamlining cumbersome border processes. Time-consuming and costly paperwork can be replaced with e-signatures, e-contracts and electronic invoicing with greater confidence.
Singapore is a gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific region and the DEA will support our bid to join Singapore and 10 other nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Membership would mean access to a £8.4 trillion free trade area with vast opportunities for UK business.
International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said, “This cutting-edge agreement with Singapore links two of the world’s most dynamic hi-tech hubs and plays to our strengths as pioneers in digital trade. Negotiated in just six months, it is the first digital trade deal ever signed by a European nation and will slash red tape, cut costs and support well-paid jobs across the whole UK. Digital trade is creating a new global economy, but it is still largely governed by old-fashioned rules that pre-date the digital revolution of the past 20 years. We’re using our independent trade policy to strike ground-breaking agreements that update these rules for the digital age and connect UK businesses to the biggest and fastest-growing markets in the world.”
The DEA is the latest and most ambitious digital trade win following new agreements with Japan, Australia and New Zealand that all contain advanced digital chapters. Under the UK’s Presidency, G7 countries agreed on ground-breaking Digital Trade Principles in October, which will help to modernise trade and spread the benefits of technology more widely.
The Singapore DEA will overhaul trade rules, so they are tailored to UK business. Wide-ranging benefits include better data flows, stronger cybersecurity and closer links between two hi-tech and services hubs.
Data flows are essential for providing services digitally: in 2019, 86% of the UK’s global financial services exports were digitally delivered, as were 84% of our global exports of telecommunications, computer and information services. The deal promotes personal data protection, and locks in free and trusted cross-border data flows, enabling everything from more efficient manufacturing and supply chains to more reliable infrastructure and effective maintenance of jet engines. UK companies will not have to pay for expensive data storage and processing in Singapore to do business there.
The deal establishes a new partnership with Singapore to build ever-stronger cybersecurity defences against attacks by private operators or hostile states, which are a growing threat to individuals and businesses. Companies like Coventry’s CyberOwl and Caerphilly-based Awen Collective have set up in Singapore and are poised to be at the forefront of protecting critical national infrastructure and businesses against cyber risks, fraud, money laundering, terrorism funding and organised crime.
The DEA links two of the world’s most dynamic hi-tech and services hubs, opening up a 6,000-mile trade superhighway between the UK and Asia. Building on the success of the UK-Singapore Fintech Bridge, it will enable future growth sectors like fintech and lawtech to benefit from deep cooperation with another advanced economy, cementing the UK’s position as a world leader in these fields.
Andy Burwell, CBI Director, International, said, “It’s extremely promising to see the UK agree its first-ever digital trade deal with Singapore. This deal will help to unlock digital trade and support key industries of the future, driving forward the UK’s global competitiveness, jobs and growth. Services will underpin the UK’s economic growth and therefore the UK’s Global Britain ambitions. Enabling digital exports in its broadest sense, and importantly the free flow of data, is integral. This agreement is only the starting point for what can be achieved through global collaboration on digital.”
UAE, Singapore can play crucial role in driving GCC-ASEAN trade ties
The agreement bringing the two countries together focuses on six areas, Shegar noted: Defence and security, finance, sustainable development, health, education, and human resources development…reports Asian Lite News
Close economic ties between the UAE and Singapore have enormous potential to develop into wider ASEAN-Gulf trade relations, according to industry experts speaking today at the Global Business Forum ASEAN in Dubai.
The forum, organised by Dubai Chamber in partnership with Expo 2020 Dubai, featured a session titled Leveraging Hubs – The UAE-Singapore Dialogue, which was joined by Hassan Al Hashemi, Vice President of International Relations at Dubai Chamber, and Dr Brian Shegar, President of the UAE-Singapore Business Council.
UAE, Singapore can play crucial role in driving GCC-ASEAN trade ties
“We need to utilise forums such as the Global Business Forum ASEAN to see where we can move forward from here,” asserted Al Hashemi. “One of the most notable things we did with the first-ever GBF ASEAN is publish a paper that gives an overview of our bilateral relationship and where we can come together – Dubai and Singapore – to take the relationship forward.”
“The paper specified four sectors where we can see an accelerated improvement,” Al Hashemi added. “First is transport and logistics, where we are can enhance the use of our knowledge and expertise to expand trade ties between our regions. Second, we can mention agribusiness and food: we know 90% of what we consume is imported, which is why agribusiness and food security are at the top of our government’s agenda. We need to see how we can build on this partnership to truly tackle this issue.”
“The third sector is retail and ecommerce, where the pandemic has really pushed companies to have an online presence,” he continued. “and finally, there are Financial services and fintech. This is just an example of what we can do collectively to look beyond the UAE and Singapore and connect as two prominent hubs to bring value in terms of trade.”
For his part, Dr Brian Shegar said: “Singapore and the UAE have shared an excellent relationship beginning in 1985, when diplomatic ties were first established between the two countries. This makes the UAE Singapore’s leading trade partner, and vice versa, Singapore is the UAE’s leading commercial partner in the ASEAN region.”
“In terms of investment, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw substantial investments made. This year, for example, GIC – which is Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund – invested USD 600 million in the ADNOC crude pipeline project, which was an important milestone,” Dr Shegar explained, adding that the relationship between the two culminated in February 2019 with the official visit by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, to Singapore.
The agreement bringing the two countries together focuses on six areas, Shegar noted: “Defence and security, finance, sustainable development, health, education, and human resources development.”
In a separate session focusing on the Islamic economy and its power to shape the global economic recovery, Ayman Amin Sejiny, Chief Executive Officer, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, Saudi Arabia, was joined by Dr Mohamed Damak, Senior Director and Global Head of Islamic Finance, S&P Global, UAE in a session titled Islamic Finance: Forging New Links. The conversations highlighted the latest state of the global Islamic economy report, which put the value of Islamic finance worldwide at almost USD 2.9 trillion in 2019, with some estimates putting the worldwide halal economy at more than USD 11 trillion by the end of this decade.
Sejini, stressed that the time is ideal to promote the spread of Islamic banking, especially after the world began to emerge from the recession last year due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. He explained that Islamic banking products and services are consistent with the standards of environment, society and governance, thus comply with the frameworks of sustainable development, and adopt the principles of ethical investment in doing business. He noted that financial technology is a major supporter of the Islamic banking sector, giving it the ability to provide effective solutions, facilitate access to its products and services, support the issuance of sukuk, and advance the sector’s growth and prosperity.
“Great trade businesses between Dubai, the GCC and the ASEAN, as well as the excitement to be able to access product and services throughout, will go greater and stronger than ever before will be the game changers in the industry. I feel fintech will be the future of Islamic financing,” he said.
Dr Damak, pointed to a number of challenges facing the Islamic banking sector, including the need to develop its standards, align its business with the requirements of society and governance, and introduce the latest financial technologies into the issuance of sukuk and takaful.
GBF ASEAN forms part of Dubai Chamber’s flagship Global Business Forum series, which was launched in 2013 to provide Dubai’s business community with new opportunities and strengthen the emirate’s position as a global business hub, a dynamic centre of commerce, and a gateway to lucrative new markets.
Doris Wildgoose, 99, receives her second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Hyde Leisure Centre in Greater Manchester, Britain, on Jan. 7, 2021. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua/ians)
Singapore will start the Covid-19 vaccination campaign for people aged 60 to 69 around the end of March, with the rest of the population to follow suit in April, said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong.
If all goes well and there are no disruptions to the supply, one million more people would have received shots by April, the Straits Times reported.
Some 250,000 Singapore residents have been vaccinated to date, with around 110,000 having received their second dose, Yong added.
The aim is to get another one million people to take their first dose of the vaccine by early April, added Education Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the task force tackling the pandemic with Yong.
“If all goes according to plan, then we can progressively roll out to the other age groups beyond March,” said Wong. “We will continue to monitor the supply of vaccine, because that’s the critical issue that will enable us to get vaccines out… We will try our best to ensure that we can get these vaccines to Singapore.”
The ministers were speaking to reporters at a vaccination centre at Jalan Besar Community Club. The centre began operations on Thursday, and is open daily from 8.30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The Health Ministry said that Covid-19 vaccination for seniors aged 70 years and above will start on February 22, following a pilot for those living in Ang Mo Kio and Tanjong Pagar.
More than 5,000 seniors from both towns have received their vaccinations.
Over the next three weeks, others in that age group can expect to receive letters inviting them to sign up for vaccination.
Yong noted that Singapore currently has 11 vaccination centres in operation, with three more slated to open next week. More than 30 centres will be up and running by the middle of March, with the full complement of around 40 centres to be in full swing by end April.
He said: “We will watch the progress and if need be, we will open up additional vaccination centres to cater to the needs of the population.”
Asked about the recent incident of a 72-year-old who suffered a cardiac arrest after getting his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, Yong reiterated Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s initial assessment – that there is no evidence the vaccine had led to the episode. The man was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit.
“I want to assure Singaporeans that we do take these very seriously,” he stressed. “Whether they are related to vaccinations or not, we want to know if there are any such incidents so that we can investigate in-depth and better understand the situation.”
Mr Gan also said that the Government will continue to refine its processes to ensure that vaccination will remain safe.
Before getting vaccinated, people will have to answer questions such as whether they have medical conditions that have compromised their immune systems, or if they have had severe allergies.
Volunteers like 70-year-old Agnes Teo have been going from door to door to explain vaccinations to seniors and help arrange their vaccination appointments.
“I explain vaccinations to them and let them know things like whether or not they should wear long sleeves,” said Teo, who speaks English, Mandarin, Malay and a few Chinese dialects.
