By Caribbean News Global 
OTTAWA, Canada – Mary Ng, minister of small business, export promotion and international trade, participated in a virtual signing ceremony Thursday, October 8, alongside Indranee Rajah, minister in the prime minister’s office of Singapore, and second minister for finance and national development, to renew the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Canada and Infrastructure Asia (InfraAsia).
“Today’s signing will make it easier for Canadian business owners to grow their businesses and bring their made-in-Canada solutions and innovative infrastructure technologies to Southeast Asian markets. By strengthening our economic relationship with Singapore and other ASEAN members, we will help support Canadian businesses, workers, and our entire economy on the road to recovery from COVID-19,” said minister Ng.
Since the signing of the first MOU between Canada and InfraAsia in 2018, InfraAsia has proven to be a valuable partner for Canada. Many Canadian companies have expanded their presence across Southeast Asia – providing innovative and sustainable solutions for infrastructure projects.
The MOU renews Canada’s commitment to work with InfraAsia and sets the foundation for even greater collaboration in the years to come. The MOU will create new opportunities for Canadian businesses, working both in traditional fields such as airports, railways, and water treatment plants and in cutting-edge technology and smart cities.
“In the post-COVID-19 world, infrastructure development will be even more important to drive economic recovery in Southeast Asia. Canada and Singapore can play an active role in expanding the pipeline of bankable and investable projects in the region and mobilizing private capital into such projects. This investment will create more opportunities for firms from both countries to collaborate on the development and implementation of infrastructure projects. We welcome the continued partnership with Canada in the development of sustainable infrastructure projects in the region through Singapore,” said Rajah, second minister for finance and second minister for national development of Singapore.
The MOU will provide further opportunities for Canadian business owners and entrepreneurs to grow and expand their businesses in the dynamic and fast-growing markets in Asia.
Canada looks forward to working closely with Singapore and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to help people rebuild and recover economically from COVID-19.
“The collaboration with Global Affairs Canada [GAC] has been very good in the past two years. GAC played an active role in facilitating Canadian companies’ contributions to InfraAsia’s initiatives and events, such as the Asia Infrastructure Forum in 2019 and the Clean Technology for Infrastructure Showcase in 2020. We have also collaborated on project-targeted capacity-building sessions in the region. We look forward to a closer collaboration with GAC going forward, especially in the areas of sustainability and infrastructure financing,” said Seth Tan, executive director, infrastructure Asia.
