Trade forum the real deal - Singapore Australia Business Alliance Forum

Business Asia, April 5, 1999 by Bina Brown

The new board of the Singapore Australia Business Alliance Forum (SABAF) hopes to cement a tangible commercial deal by the end of the year in its bid to assist business in the region.

The co-chairman of SABAF, Mr Maurice Newman, said the organisation would spend coming months identifying opportunities for Australian companies to link with Singaporean companies to help rejuvenate other nations in Asia.

SABAF was established in 1995 as a joint initiative of the Singapore and Australian Prime Ministers to play a strategic role in developing commercial relations and identifying business opportunities between Australia and Singapore. It is made up of leading business figures chosen by the two nations' respective Prime Ministers.

"The Australian side want to get their ducks in a row, see where the best opportunities lie and what our strategy is to be able to exploit those opportunities," Mr Newman said.

"We are looking forward to getting together with Singaporean counterparts sometime later in the year where we might be able to bring about some real live opportunities. That is, bring together organisations where there may be likelihood of something positive -- tangible in the commercial sense -- coming out of it."

Areas identified where there may be a synergy between the two countries include information technology, food and biotechnology.

"There really is the opportunity for us to use Singapore's venture capital to assist Australia's small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and for Australia's SMEs to form alliances and partnerships with Singaporean companies," said Mr Newman, who is also chairman of the Australian Stock Exchange.

An "obvious fit" existed in the IT industry between Singapore's expertise in hardware and Australia's excellent software, he said.

Further leverage opportunities were in food and biotechnology, "where Australia is very creative and where Singapore is keen to tie up with ventures wherever they happen to be that they can also exploit".

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade already rates the relationship with Singapore as one of Australia's closest and most comprehensive in the region.

The two nations share links in trade and investment, security, education, civil aviation, tourism, immigration and cultural relations. In 1998, two-way trade between the countries totalled nearly A$6 billion, with exports to Singapore of A$3.27 billion and imports of A$2.68 billion.

Recent financial turmoil in the region may have helped rather than hindered the relationship.

"The change that has taken place in Asia has created a climate where the stronger countries within the region have the opportunity to get together and co-operate in a way where they can take the benefits of that cooperation to third countries," Mr Newman said.

"That is much more possible than two or three years ago when many countries were in a better position to go it alone. I think there is a better climate all round for doing business together."

Mr Newman's first SABAF meeting as co-chairman coincided with the March visit of Singapore's Prime Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong.

Other members of the SABAF meeting included co-chairman and managing director of Overseas Union Bank, Mr Peter Seah. Business Asia publisher Mr Peter Charlton has been invited to take part in the forum.

Prime Minister Goh wants Australia to use its connections with Asia and the West to further moderate the hard-line US-backed International Monetary Fund approach towards Asian economic reforms.

"Australia and Singapore, being two of the best-performing economies in the region, will be able to take a leadership role in the region and assist with the faster economic recovery than would otherwise be the case by being able to look to third-country opportunities," Mr Newman said.

According to Mr Newman, part of Australia's ability to withstand the full effects of the crisis has been its flexibility to adjust.

"Looking to the future, Australia, because of its structural changes which are taking place, is going to be at the forefront of the region and in a position to lead the region in its recovery," he said.