Li Dianxun, deputy secretary of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and governor of Hubei Province, met with Sim Ann, Singapore’s SecondMinister for Foreign Affairs andSecond Minister forHome Affairs, and her delegation in Wuhan on July 15.

Li welcomed Sim and briefly introduced Hubei’s economic and social development. He said Hubei is a major economic and science-and-education powerhouse in China and an important transport hub for land, water and air. Singapore, meanwhile, has strong advantages in technology, finance and shipping, providing a solid foundation and broad prospects for cooperation.

Li said Hubei is working to develop itself into an important strategic pivot for the rise of central China by advancing deeper reform, high-level opening up and coordinated innovation. He expressed Hubei’s readiness to work with Singapore to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, establish regular mechanisms for cooperation, and deepen collaboration in trade, investment, culture and tourism, science and technology, education and finance. He also called for closer cooperation in multimodal and river-sea transport and modern cross-border logistics.

Sim said Hubei’s distinctive strengths and strong development momentum had left a deep impression on her. She expressed hope for closer exchanges and cooperation in trade, science and education, and people-to-people ties, and welcomed more Hubei enterprises to invest and operate in Singapore, contributing to a new chapter in Singapore-China cooperation.