SINGAPORE, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Singaporean Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat announced on Tuesday the launch of Infrastructure Asia at the 8th Asia-Singapore Infrastructure Roundtable.
Infrastructure Asia is a new government agency led by the Enterprise Singapore and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
It will serve as a bridge for different industry players across the infrastructure ecosystem, multilateral development banks and the public sector, said the minister in his opening address at the event.
Meanwhile, the new agency is also expected to be a one-stop platform for the information exchange and sharing of best practices in Asia, according to the Enterprise Singapore.
Tan Keng Hwee, executive director of Infrastructure Asia, said the agency will work closely with the private sector, governments, commercial and multilateral development banks to provide solutions that are customized to meet each local market's specific needs and requirements.
Tan told Xinhua at the Roundtable's sideline that Singapore has specific advantages and experiences in several sections of infrastructure projects, and its solutions may better satisfy the specific needs of some Asian countries. "In that case, we can assist Chinese enterprises in the projects related to the Belt and Road Initiative," he said.
He also said that Infrastructure Asia welcomes Chinese enterprises to come and base in Singapore, cooperate with the agency, and use its platform to get access to more financing channels for infrastructure projects or to invest in the projects.
At the roundtable, the newly launched Infrastructure Asia signed two Memoranda of Understanding with the World Bank Group and the Singapore Business Federation respectively.
It is estimated that the infrastructure needs of Asia's developing countries will reach 26 trillion U.S. dollars from 2016 to 2030, or 1.7 trillion per year in the period, according to a publication released by the Asian Development Bank in June.
