Lien Aid gets China charity award

A Singapore non-profit organisation has been awarded one of China's top charity awards for bringing much-needed water and sanitation to more than 30,000 Chinese in drought-prone rural areas.

Lien Aid, a collaboration between Lien Foundation and Nanyang Technological University, received the Global Charity Award in the Great Hall of the People yesterday at one of China's major events of the year honouring philanthropic work.

Held by the Chinese ministry of civil affairs and the prestigious Soong Ching Ling Foundation, the ceremony honoured more than 50 individuals and organisations for their contributions to Chinese society.

Lien Aid, the only Singapore recipient at this year's awards, was ranked by popular vote as an outstanding contributor among the top non-profit organisations for its 14 projects in Yunan, Sichuan and Shanxi.

Swap deal can help Singapore become yuan centre

THE Sino-Singapore currency swap agreement can help establish the Republic as a renminbi centre for the region, said Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) deputy chairman Lim Hng Kiang yesterday.

'Currently, the Chinese are keen to internationalise the renminbi (yuan), and the main vehicle for doing so is through Hong Kong. By having this swap line, we are encouraging them to also provide the facility through Singapore.

'We can expect the Chinese to do so bilaterally with other South-east Asian countries, but to the extent that Singapore is the financial hub for South-east Asia, and the trade and investment facilitator for many of the deals and many of the operations arising in South-east Asia, then of course Singapore can aspire to be a renminbi centre for South-east Asia.'

Mr Lim, who is also Trade and Industry Minister, was responding to a question in Parliament from Nominated MP Teo Siong Seng.

MAS inked the $30 billion currency swap agreement with the People's Bank of China (PBOC) on July 24.

The agreement will allow MAS to borrow up to 150 billion yuan of the Chinese currency from the PBOC, in exchange for the equivalent in Singapore dollars.

The swap line is intended to promote bilateral trade and direct investment between the two countries. It will also facilitate the internationalisation of the yuan.

Singapore is tops for training of senior Chinese officials

Minister of the Central Organisation Department of China's Communist Party, Mr Li Yuanchao said in his address that Singapore is the top choice when it comes to selecting a place to train top Chinese government officials, at the inaugural opening ceremony of the Master in Public Administration and Management (MPAM) programme.

The joint programme is an effort by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the NUS Business School.

Shenzhen wants to be clean, just like Singapore

The Chinese city of Shenzhen has chosen Singapore to be its guiding light in environmental improvements, particularly public sanitation, Chinese and Hong Kong newspapers have reported.

A Singapore consultancy company had earlier spent two years working with the southern boomtown's environment and sanitation bureau and compiled a report on the challenges it faced and how they should be tackled.

Shenzhen has also sent officials to Singapore on study trips in its ambitious aim to turn itself into a garden city like the Republic, the paper added.

Last month, the city announced it would continue hiring a Singapore consultancy to help it in its public sanitation quest.

As Shenzhen will be celebrating next year its 30th anniversary as a special economic zone - a designation that helped it become a modern investment hub, it is now keener than ever to move closer to Singapore's environmental standards hoping to achieve a drastic change in image by then.

Most of the changes being carried out are refurbishment and upgrading works, such as repainting the facades of buildings along the thoroughfares and re-fashioning rooftops of high-rises, like what is often done in Singapore's housing estates.

Shenzhen also wants to learn from Singapore's experience in involving the private sector in sanitation and private sector in sanitation and garbage management, and how it put and runs a mechanised public sanitation system.

Guangdong's acting Mayor Mr Wang Rong decided that it should learn from Singapore.

Mr Wang was previously the party boss of Suzhou, where he was very much exposed to Singapore's ways of management in the Suzhou Industrial Park, in which the Republic holds sizeable stakes.

Explaining why Shenzhen did not choose neighbouring Hong Kong as its model, Mr Hu Zhen Hua, a spokesman for the city's urban management bureau, said: "Hong Kong is the efficiency expert, but Singapore is a unique garden city, and nobody would be better than Singapore for environmental improvement."

The Sunday Times (15 Nov 2009)