 Speaking at the IBM Think Singapore event on Wednesday (Aug 14), Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing pointed out that the world is facing a “great challenge” today as there are many parts of the world that do not believe in integration. He said the world risks being fragmented, and if this does happen, “we will all be poorer for it”. He said in the conference that “Companies like IBM, Google, PayPal - any company that relies on digital services, any company that relies on having data flowing across borders to produce products and services - will not survive very well if the fragmentation trend continues. He emphasized that the world is a better place if everyone can integrate and optimise their production systems and supply chains, and if ideas can be shared and worked on collectively. Singapore’s exports together with the exports for electronic products, particularly that of integrated circuits, disk media products and PCs, heavily hit. Singapore economy shrank 3.3 per cent in the second quarter. The Trade and Industry Ministry pointed out that the sharp slowdown is due to “strong headwinds” ranging from an escalating trade war between the United States and China to a downturn in the global electronics cycle. Read more at >> |