Press Release
SINGAPORE IS THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD FOR BUSINESS.
UNDERSTANDING THE SUCCESS OF THE CITY-STATE
Several Italian and Singaporean personalities will attend the book presentation: Italy and Singapore. Converging Differences, the second volume edited by
The Association Italy-ASEAN(Rome, May 24).
Enrico Letta, Giovanni Sabatini, Benedetto Della Vedova, S Iswaran, Josephine Teo, Federico Ghizzoni and Stefania Giannini will meet in Rome at the Italian Banking Association on the occasion of the book presentation Italy and Singapore. Converging Differences, published by AREL-Il Mulino and edited by Romeo Orlandi, to discuss about Italy and Singapore relations. The book presentation has been organized to coincide with the State visit of the President of Singapore Tony Tan to Italy.
Singapore is a magnet for foreign companies; out of 421 Italian companies that have invested in the 10 ASEAN countries, 118 (28%) are located in the city-state. Singapore has therefore attracted the relative majority of Italian investors interested in the region. In 2015, the value of Italian export to Singapore was 1.964 billion euros, nearly 0.5% of national exports.
According to the International Finance Corporation (the agency of the World Bank), the city-state is the major attractor of foreign investment.
Is Singapore the best place in the world to conduct business? Within Southeast Asian countries, the choices of Italian entrepreneurs seem to confirm that.
Since its independence 50 years ago, Singapore has been successful. This is testified by economic and social data related to GDP and quality of life. In the words of its founder - Lee Kuan Yew – in few years Singapore has grown from "the third world to the first". Yet, the challenges presented by globalization should stimulate a reflection on how Italy and Singapore, which are now less separated by historical or geographical divides, can mutually foster their different models.
The bilingual book Italy and Singapore. Converging differences / Italia e Singapore. Le Differenze che Avvicinano aims to raise awareness on the importance of Singapore for Italy. For a long time, in fact, geographical distance has been coupled by a general lack of knowledge. It is time to look at Singapore from different and less western-oriented points of view.
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Created in 2015, the Italy-ASEAN Association aims at providing Italy with a working tool to foster knowledge on the area. The growing global importance of ASEAN countries has triggered the need for Italy to enrich the number of regional partners. The Association is open for forms of contributions and cooperation with other Italian, European, Asian actors. It has a light structure, in line with modern working and communication methods. Led by a board of directors, the Association’s activities are focused on three main outputs: events and conferences, missions and publishing initiatives. http://www.itasean.org/it/home/