Defense & Security

Largest US, Asia war games
The US military began its largest war games in the Pacific region on Monday - an annual training exercise with troops from Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, now joined by South Korea. At the opening ceremony in the eastern Thai province of Rayong, US Ambassador Eric G. John said that the 'Cobra Gold' exercise, now in its 29th year, had become a 'multinational showcase event'.

'It's imperative that our separate militaries learn to work with each other - together - and rehearse for the day their services are needed to answer that call for help,' he said. In total representatives from more than 20 countries will participate, observe or support, he added.

Singapore well positioned to tap on rapidly developing space industry: S Iswaran
Singapore is well positioned to tap on the rapidly—developing industry for space—related technologies in Asia. This is according to Senior Minister of State for Trade & Industry and Education, S Iswaran. Speaking at a space technology conference, he said the country can also serve as a catalyst for the further growth of the Asian space industry. Meanwhile, plans are underway between the public and private sector to start a regional space—training camp to drive interest in the industry.

EDB upbeat about Singapore Airshow despite aviation woes
Asia’s largest aerospace and defence exhibition — The Singapore Airshow — starts on Tuesday. But the sector is facing vast economic woes, highlighted by the bankruptcy of Japan Airlines less than two weeks ago. While many in the industry have muted expectations, Singapore’s Economic Development Board remains optimistic about the airshow. The EDB said that when it comes to maintenance, repair and overhaul work in the aerospace industry, Singapore has a quarter of the Asia—Pacific market.
Sia Kheng Yok, EDB’s director for transport engineering, said: "There will be a very large number of top executives from airlines as well as aerospace companies and it creates a great networking opportunity for everyone. And coming into Singapore, they will have a very good sense of our competitive landscape."

Energy

Committee proposes new waterfront city, nuclear energy
The Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) on Monday gave extensive recommendations to ensure energy sustainability and the full optimisation of Singapore’s land space, given the island—state’s limited resources.

Among the plans is a new waterfront city at Tanjong Pagar, currently a port area comprising Keppel and Pulau Brani. The committee also emphasized a need to develop subterranean land rights, a valuation framework and to establish a national geology office.
Besides land constraints, Singapore also faces energy resource constraints.

The committee suggested that Singapore study the feasibility of using nuclear energy in the long term, an idea which Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2008 said he "hasn’t ruled out."

Economy

Key recommendations of Singapore economic committee
Singapore's economic strategies committee helmed by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam released recommendations on Monday to help the city-state expand its economy in the next decade. The key recommendations have been accepted by the government and will be debated in Parliament later this month.

Following are some of the key recommendations and the possible beneficiaries:
Capping foreign workers to about one-third of workforce; Raise productivity growth to 2-3 percent per annum; Shift the port westwards to free land for development; Setting up and Export Import Bank; Import electricity, consider using nuclear power

Singapore expects $12b investments
Singapore expects to draw more businesses and up to $12 billion in investments this year, said the Economic Development Board (EDB) yesterday. Total fixed-asset investment, or the cumulative capital that firms invest over the entire period of their project, may hit $12 billion, up from last year's $11.8 billion.

The Government hopes to attract as much as $9 billion in total business spending in industries such as electronics and biomedical manufacturing. And the inflow is likely to add between $13 billion and $15 billion to annual gross domestic product here, and create up to 17,000 jobs for the workforce.

Sharp Q1 growth seen
The Singapore economy may grow by 8.4 per cent in the first quarter, a survey on business climate has predicted. The BT-UniSIM survey, reported in The Business Times on Monday, polled 149 firms on their business outlook for the next six months, and their sales, orders and profits in the last quarter of 2009. Now in its 15th year, the business prospects indicator has proven to be closely correlated to Singapore's gross domestic product growth in the following quarter.

Survey director Chow Kit Boey expects a GDP growth of between 7.3 and 8.4 per cent, based on the upbeat business prospects outlook from businesses across the board.

Health & Life Sciences

JTC unveils new projects for biomedical sector
JTC Corp has announced two new projects and unveiled a new concept plan to boost the biomedical sector. The projects involve expanding the Biopolis hub and creating a medical technology cluster. To increase land utilisation, policy makers are considering plans to cluster biomedical firms in high-rise buildings.

Biopolis - a biomedical research and development hub at one-north - has already seen government investments of S$500 million. The area is already growing into a leading international biomedical sciences cluster, advancing human health by achieving excellence across the entire value chain.

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