New business opportunities for S'pore as Europe boosts private investment

DESPITE the challenges, Europe is growing again. The European Union economy is set to expand by 1.4 per cent this year and 1.7 per cent the next. New business opportunities have emerged and we want to bolster growth further by mobilising private investment. Since taking office in November last year, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker's top priority has been to create more and better jobs through an ambitious plan to drive investment and competitiveness in Europe. Having visited 28 EU member states to explain how this Investment Plan for Europe will work, I am now bringing my "roadshow" to Asia, starting on Thursday in Singapore.

The European Union is Singapore's first trading partner when taking total services and merchandise trade combined and the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI). The EU has invested more in Singapore at the end of 2013 than the United States, China, Japan and Australia combined. Singapore is also an important source of investment for the EU, it is our eighth-largest external investor globally, owning over 40 billion euros (S$63.3 billion) of European assets.

According to Ernst & Young, global investors now rank Europe the most attractive destination for foreign direct investment in the world. In fact, while global FDI flows slipped 8 per cent last year, European businesses attracted over 270 billion euros in foreign direct investment, up more than a third on the previous year. Eager to capitalise on these new opportunities, Singapore's GIC made a number of important investments in European markets last year while Temasek Holdings opened a new office in London to oversee its investments in the region.