annum since 2005. 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches china is asean ’ s top trading partner and third - largest source of foreign direct investment. in short, the fundamentals for growth in asean and china are strong. and if we can deepen and broaden the integration between our two regions, it will help soften the impact of external trade protectionsim and sustain asia ’ s dynamism and long term growth. key achievements of the cci against this broader imperative to strengthen trade and investment connectivity between china and asean, the cci has made good progress. mayor tang has highlighted the key achievements of cci. let me highlight just a few examples which may be of interest to our friends from china here. chinese firms continue to benefit from raising capital in singapore ’ s financial centre. as of august this year, 51 cci qualifying cross - border financing deals worth us $ 4. 2 billion have been completed. the scope of cross - border financial services has extended beyond chongqing to other parts of western china, and new channels for cross - border financing have opened up. china aoyuan property group limited, a firm from western china, listed two bonds, totalling us $ 700 million on the singapore exchange this year. china ’ s first cross - border reit containing outlet malls in the western region was launched on the singapore exchange this year, with a us $ 322 million ipo listing. raising capital in singapore has allowed chinese companies to diversify their investor base, taking advantage of singapore ’ s s $ 3. 3 trillion pool of assets under management. and as the largest reit market in asia ex - japan, singapore can help connect chinese assets with a diversified pool of investors, including high net worth individuals from asean and global sovereign wealth funds. new connectivity for new growth : western china and asean the cci has made great strides in strengthening the collaboration between chongqing and singapore. now is the time for cci to take flight, and soar in reach of broader connectivity between western china and asean. let me cite four areas where we can do this. first, building robust channels for sme financing. asean and the western region can work together to develop more innovative sme financing solutions. our financial institutions from both sides have started to collaborate in this area. one of singapore ’ s banks, ocbc, has partnered chongqing rural commercial bank to provide loans for smes in chongqing. lu international, a subisidiary of lufax under

trends supporting asia ’ s long term growth are still in place. this includes rising education levels, rapid urbanisation, and a burgeoning middle class all across asia. yes, trade remains asia ’ s life - blood, but domestic demand is already emerging as a key driver of growth in the region. second, asia is increasingly trading within itself – as a source for imports and a final destination for exports. countries in asia conduct substantial trade among themselves, in both intermediate inputs and final goods. in trade in value - added terms ( “ tiva ” ), more than one - third of the exports from the five economies of northeast asia and the eight economies of southeast asia 1 ends up in the region itself – this is nearly twice their exports to the us. asean in particular is becoming a major economic force in asia. it is a us $ 2. 4 trillion market with over 630 million people. based on current growth rates, asean is expected to become the fourth largest market by 2030, behind the eu, china, and the us. asean has emerged as a key global manufacturing region, with extensive supply chains linking the individual economies and to china. asean is the world ’ s fifth largest manufacturing economy in value - added terms. so, in the face of rising trade protectionism, it is important for asian economies to strengthen trade, investment and infrastructure networks to sustain long term growth. indeed, the best response to trade restrictions is to further liberalise trade among willing economies. and this is exactly what asia is doing. the regional comprehensive economic partnership ( “ rcep ” ) is a good example. it brings together the ten asean economies and china, india, japan, korea, australia and new zealand. it signals the region ’ s commitment to freetrade. negotiations are ongoing, but when successfully concluded, the rcep will create the world ’ s largest trading bloc, covering one - third of global gdp. and by the end of next month, the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans - pacific partnership ( “ tpp - 11 ” ) will enter into force. it is not as big as the rcep but tpp - 11 will eliminate most existing tariffs among the eleven economies across asia and latin america, simplify customs procedures, and introduce strong provisions to boost modern services and a digital economy. trade and investment linkages between china and asean, in particular, are deep and have been growing over the years. bilateral trade between china and asean has increased by an average 13 % per