[Chengdu, 24 October 2014 (Friday)] – The Singapore Management University (SMU) and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) have co-organised a forum today to discuss and share perspectives from Singapore and China on pertinent issues related to economic transitions.

Themed “Managing Economic Transitions: Perspectives from China and Singapore”, this is the third forum organised under the SMU Global Forum Series, and the first to be held in western China. The first two fora were co-organised by SMU with Shanghai’s Fudan University and Beijing’s Tsinghua University in April this year.

SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer, SWUFE President Professor Zhang Zongyi and Mr Pang Te Cheng, Singapore’s Consul-General in Chengdu, were among the dignitaries present at the Forum, which attracted about 300 business leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers and academics.

The SMU Global Forum Series is a collaborative initiative between SMU and leading Chinese universities to provide a high-level dialogue platform for leaders from the business, government and academic communities to come together to discuss and debate the key challenges and opportunities arising from China’s development, as well as to share Singapore’s experiences in transforming its economy and building a harmonious society.

Said Professor Arnoud De Meyer, “SMU is committed to broadening and deepening our ties with China through research collaboration, exchange programmes, as well as training and development. We believe this will help contribute to knowledge creation and talent development for both Singapore and China.

“It is our hope that this Forum with SWUFE will facilitate the sharing of experiences and lessons learned by both countries in managing economic transitions, germinate good ideas and offer possible solutions to the common challenges faced by both countries.”

The Forum brought together leading scholars from the two universities who shared the findings of their research, as well as senior government officials, experts from think tanks and the industry to address the common challenges facing both countries on issues related to managing economic transitions.

Professor Liu Hongyu, Chairman of Specialist Committee of Housing Policy (Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development) and Director of Institute of Real Estate Studies at Tsinghua University delivered his speech on “China’s New Economic Normality & China Real Estate Market Development”, Dr Robert Yap, Chairman & CEO of YCH Group spoke on “City Supply Chains – A Private Sector Perspective to Enabling Sustainable Growth of Cities through Productivity and Innovation”, and Professor Gan Li, Dean of Research Institute of Economics and Management at SWUFE shared his insights on “Urbanisation and Housing Market”.

There were two roundtable discussions during the Forum on “Managing the Challenges of Economic Transitions” and “Sino-Singapore Partnership in Western China”, which saw participation from various public and private-sector organisations such as SMU, People’s Bank of China, Alibaba Research Institute, Peking University, International Enterprise Singapore, Yintai Land and DHL. The Forum rounded off with research seminars on “Real Estate Market & Ageing” and “SME and Internet Finance”.

The SMU Global Forum Series is an integral part of SMU’s China Initiatives which was established in the second quarter of 2012 to raise SMU’s profile in China as a research university in the broad field of social sciences. By doing so, SMU aims to contribute to the Singapore-China collaboration in business, government and civic society by nurturing a new generation of graduates with cross-cultural perspectives and understanding of China that would prepare them for future success in a globalised environment.