INTERVIEW WITH HE NG SHIN EIN, AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE TO HUNGARY Zsolt Csepregi, August 2020, Budapest
HE Ng Shin Ein Serving as Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Hungary since 2016, Ms Ng Shin Ein has strengthened connections between Singapore and Hungary through bilateral exchanges, bidirectional visits of business delegations and facilitated the establishment of people-to-people connections. She is also active in the private sector as a board member of various companies, e.g., Starhub Ltd, a leading homegrown telecommunications company, former director of Fairprice, Singapore’s largest supermarket operator, or advisor to Grab Holdings Inc, South east Asia’s largest mobile technology company.
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Starting with the overall context of our interview on economic relations between Singapore and Hungary, how do you see Singapore’s economic development in the coming years, what are the main challenges, opportunities, and tasks? Singapore has been a beneficiary of the rules-based international order, free trade, and the flow of investments. However, even prior to COVID-19, there were worrying trends that posed challenges to the global system. These include escalating US–China tensions, a pushback against globalisation and free trade, and the increasing bifurcation of technology and supply chains. Structural changes such as the fragmentation of global supply chains and technological disruptions were already in motion. There were also signs of a slowdown in international trade and investments. COVID-19 has accelerated these pre-existing trends, amplified them, and broadened the areas of impact. Looking beyond the pandemic, the global economy will not be returning so soon to the levels of openness and connectivity that we have been accustomed to. We will have to constantly adapt, restructure, and transform to emerge stronger. There are certainly opportunities that come with these challenges.
ASEAN PERSPECTIVES
In particular, we now see real opportunities to further accelerate the digitalisation of Singapore’s economy, an effort that was in progress before the advent of COVID-19. Out of necessity, businesses have had to innovate and adapt to digital solutions that would have been alien to them a year ago. In this regard, Singapore’s efforts to digitalise in the past few years have paid off immensely, and we are in a good position to help businesses and citizens adapt. We have seen the equivalent of five years of consumer and business digital adaption in just eight weeks when COVID-19 began. There is no going back, and we will have to continue to accelerate digital transformation across all sectors and prepare ourselves for the postCOVID-19 world. One silver lining of the pandemic has been the opportunity to deepen existing relationships and forge new ones. The pandemic has underlined the importance of international cooperation in the face of global challenges. In the past few months, Singapore has worked closely with friends in Europe and other global partners on issues of common interest, ranging from supporting multilateralism and keeping supply chains open to repatriating stranded travellers. This has reaffirmed the trust and strengthened the friendship between us. Even in this pandemic,
