There is friction in clearing customs, handling trade documents, checking for fraud in trade finance, and ensuring the safety and timely delivery of goods. This is because the approach to trade and trade finance is still manual and paper-based. We need to have end-to-end digitalisation of trade processes. Chongqing and Singapore can work together to apply FinTech solutions to make the STC hassle free, safe, and cost efficient for all stakeholders. Chongqing’s interest to develop a Fintech experimental and demonstration zone in the Western Region is thus timely. The Fintech zone can serve as a source of technology solutions for the successful development of the STC. Several players have embarked on initiatives in this area. For example, VCargo Cloud from Singapore has worked on digitalising the STC’s work flows onto cloud services, synchronising and sharing the information provided by different parties from trade, logistics, and supply chain. I am glad to share that there will be a signing of a four-party Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) later today at the Summit that will catalyse FinTech cooperation between Chongqing and Singapore. The MoU will cover enterprise and talent exchange, the establishment of an incubator platform and a regular communication mechanism. Under a separate MoU, OCBC Bank, Xiaomi Inc, and Hanhua Financial Holding Co will explore Fintech collaboration in the areas of retail and institutional financial services in China. This collaboration will enable more than 300 million Xiaomi retail customers and business partners to have access to innovative financial services.

Similarly, Chinese investors and developers in Belt and Road projects who are facing unfamiliar legal, credit, and environmental risks in Southeast Asian markets, can leverage on the insurance expertise in Singapore to help manage these risks. A good example is the Belt and Road insurance consortium that was formed in Singapore last year. Comprising both Chinese and Singapore insurers, it serves as an avenue to jointly develop insurance solutions to meet the risk management needs of Chinese developers and contractors. The consortium aims to provide integrated insurance solutions across multiple countries, including for construction, project cargo,2 political risk and structured trade credit. Thus far, the consortium has pledged $ billion in insurance capacity for construction and project cargo risks. It has insured four projects, in Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan. Fourth, strengthening FinTech collaboration. There is great scope to leverage on technology to strengthen connectivity between the Western Region and ASEAN. One potential application of technology solutions is along the Southern Transport Corridor (“STC”) which is being established to connect Western China and Southeast Asia. 4/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  STC can potentially shorten to 1 week the time it takes to transport goods between China and ASEAN, compared to 2-3 weeks using other routes. A successful STC will provide a further boost to increase trade and investment activities between the two regions. Beyond reducing physical distance, we should aim to reduce friction in trade processes.