China-Singapore bilateral trade up

The bilateral trade between China and Singapore rose by 6.4 percent year on year to 101.4 billion Singapore dollars (80.5 billion US dollars) in 2011, a senior official has said. Minister of State for Trade and Development Lee Yi Shyan said that the bilateral exchanges have been vibrant and that he saw chances of cooperation between Chinese and Singapore enterprises not just in China, local daily Lianhe Zaobao reported on Thursday. According to China''s News Agency (Xinhua), the bilateral growth could actually be higher in US dollar terms, as the Singapore dollar strengthened against the US dollar over the past year. Lee was speaking at a reception of business organizations in Singapore. He also encouraged Singapore companies to expand their business by tapping the Chinese market, which boasts great potentials as China tries to upgrade its economy by boosting domestic demand. (QNA) RMA/LY