Continuing S'pore and London's shared history of growth

WHEN President Tony Tan Keng Yam visited the United Kingdom last October on a state visit, he spoke about how London had acted as a blueprint for the growth of Singapore. Speaking in the presence of UK royalty, politicians, business leaders and the world's media, he also said that the development of London as a global city and a cosmopolitan financial centre had been a source of inspiration for Singapore after independence. For President Tan to be so complimentary about London and the wider UK is a source of immense pride for me as the ambassador for the UK's financial and professional services sector.

On that very same night, my predecessor as Lord Mayor of the City of London, Dame Fiona Woolf, also spoke about how we cherish our longstanding friendship and partnership with Singapore. As two of the world's four global financial centres, we have common goals and objectives in so many areas - investment banking, asset management, legal services and the development of the yuan, to name but a few. That is why my visit this week to Singapore comes at such an opportune time. With the new UK government settling into power, I come here to reiterate that the UK's financial district will be looking to hold onto its position as the pre-eminent global hub.

As Singapore enters its 50th year of independence in 2015, I do actually think that in the present day it is the UK which has a lot to learn and copy from Singapore, and our policymakers could actually benefit in overcoming some of the economic hurdles that we face by using some of their examples.