- Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern
New Zealand and Singapore have pledged to continue working together on supply chains following global disruptions caused by COVID-19, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Singapore counterpart, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, announced today.
“The global COVID-19 pandemic has showed us just how vulnerable economies of all sizes can be to supply disruption. The establishment of a New Zealand-Singapore Supply Chain Working Group” will help us future proof and protect our economies by ensuring our supply chains are resilient, sustainable and work for businesses of all sizes,” Jacinda Ardern said at Port of Singapore today.
The supply chain work builds on initiatives that began with COVID-19. In March 2020 New Zealand and Singapore committed to ensuring supply chain continuity amid COVID-19 – an initiative subsequently joined by a number of other countries. They also issued a Declaration in which they committed to not impose tariffs or other trade barriers so as to support the flow of essential goods and services, including medical supplies.
The Prime Minister is in Singapore, accompanied by Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor, leading a trade mission to support New Zealand’s economic rebuild following the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Singapore is New Zealand’s largest trading partner in South-East Asia, with our exports to Singapore doubling to more than NZ$1 billion a year during the past 10 years.
“Future proofing our supply chain will help ensure these strong linkages continue to grow,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“Singapore also shares our commitment to free and open rules-based trade, and to protecting supply chains without resorting to protectionist trade practices.”
Areas for future New Zealand-Singapore supply chain collaboration include:
- working together, alongside the private sector, to improve freight data and better understand supply chain ecosystems;
- sharing best practices around managing supply chain disruption risks, especially for essential goods and services;
- exploring digital and automated trade solutions which can assist small and medium-sized enterprises in particular to withstand supply chain disruptions;
- partnering in global and regional policy initiatives for supply chain resilience.
