Orient - The Official Magazine of the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore - Issue 72 June 2019
opportunity for us but also a risk. We saw the chance to showcase the relationship and raise awareness in both countries of its breadth and depth. But we were conscious of the danger of being seen to crash Singapore’s party and of placing the emphasis on our colonial past.
Our answer was the SG-UK Partnership for the Future, which our two Prime Ministers agreed in April last year and which our two Foreign Ministers inaugurated in the first week of January. The Partnership has four pillars: digital economy; sustainable business and innovation; defence and security; and education, culture and youth.
New Government-to-Government partnerships in areas like intellectual property, meteorology and digital government form a core. But our concept was always that businesses, universities and other organisations would see the SG-UK Partnership for the Future as an opportunity and want to get on board.
The results so far have exceeded our most optimistic expectations. By the end of March, there had been over 100 Partnership branded events involving 32 partner organisations. There had been over 13000 original uses on social media of the #SGUKpartnership hashtag with over a million impressions.
BritCham is one of the most enthusiastic partners. That hasn’t surprised me because along with the British Council, the Chamber has been the High Commission’s most important ally throughout my time in Singapore. I’ve deeply appreciated the support we’ve had from Bicky and Hugo, from Board members and the executive team, and from corporate and individual members in promoting UK interests.
Of course, it’s to be expected that the Chamber is active on the business agenda. And we’ll need to work even more closely together as we develop the bilateral trade and investment relationship outside the EU, tackling market access barriers on our own and exploiting new trade horizons.
But BritCham’s role in promoting British values of diversity and inclusion in society and the workplace and of integrity in business, as well as British excellence in design and innovation is absolutely crucial to our work. The Chamber is a key instrument of UK soft power.