{"id":840910,"date":"2025-11-01T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=840910"},"modified":"2025-10-31T15:41:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:41:20","slug":"one-of-the-smartest-cities-in-the-world-looking-to-make-a-deal-with-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/840910\/one-of-the-smartest-cities-in-the-world-looking-to-make-a-deal-with-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the smartest cities in the world looking to make a deal with South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Singapore, which is ranked among the smartest cities in the world, is looking to make a deal with South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reuters reported<\/a> that a delegation of Singaporean companies is in the country this week to explore opportunities in manufacturing, logistics, and consumer goods, as trade between the two nations continues to surge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enterprise Singapore, the city-state\u2019s trade and enterprise agency, said the business mission forms part of its Scale-Up Programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The programme aims to connect participating firms with South African counterparts across key industries, including agri-processing and industrial supply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative comes at a time when countries around the world are redrawing trade routes and strengthening strategic partnerships to navigate shifting tariffs, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSouth Africa and Singapore already enjoy a strong bilateral relationship, and many Singaporean companies are operating in the country already,\u201d said Rahul Ghosh, Enterprise Singapore\u2019s director for the Middle East and Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the long term, this will result in Singaporean businesses unlocking new opportunities for South African businesses for win-win outcomes, which is especially important at this critical juncture of global trade and investment uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visiting delegation includes companies from a range of industries, such as steel infrastructure specialist Mlion Corporation, car-leasing firm Lumens, snack maker Cocoba, refurbished-device trader Mercantile Pacific, and industrial equipment supplier Chee Fatt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group is expected to meet with major local and regional players, including Tolaram Group and Denmark-based FLSmidth, to discuss potential collaboration and investment opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Ghosh, manufacturing, agri-processing, and logistics have been identified as the key focus sectors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are areas where Singapore\u2019s experience in innovation and operational efficiency could help strengthen South Africa\u2019s industrial capabilities and open new export channels for both sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trade in goods between Singapore and South Africa reached $1.4 billion (R24.28 billion) in 2024 (nearly double the level recorded in 2020), highlighting a growing appetite for deeper economic ties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the smartest cities in the world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Singapore\u2019s role as a global logistics and technology hub makes it an attractive partner for South Africa as it seeks to modernise its industrial base and improve supply chain connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership talks are also underscored by Singapore\u2019s position as one of the most technologically advanced and efficiently managed cities in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singapore is both a city and a country, as it is a sovereign city-state. This means it is a country with a single, unified urban area that constitutes the majority of its territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an independent nation located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the 2024 Smart City Index<\/a>, published by Switzerland\u2019s Institute for Management Development (IMD), Singapore is ranked the world\u2019s fifth-smartest city, up two places from its 2023 position, and remains the smartest city in Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual index evaluates 142 cities based on how effectively they use technology to enhance citizens\u2019 quality of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report found that Singapore excels in areas such as public transport, public safety, and access to basic sanitation, particularly in poorer communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zurich retained the top spot globally, followed by Oslo, Canberra, and Geneva. Other Asian cities in the top 20 included Beijing, Taipei, Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singapore\u2019s performance in the index has long made it a benchmark for urban innovation. Between 2019 and 2021, the city-state ranked first in the world before slipping to seventh place in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest index, developed in partnership with the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organisation, combines hard data with survey responses from citizens on issues such as traffic congestion, public Wi-Fi access, and internet speed and reliability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s report also introduced moving averages, allowing researchers to track how cities have performed over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on these findings, Singapore was named a \u201csuper-champion\u201d city for maintaining or improving its ranking over multiple years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For South Africa, the timing of Singapore\u2019s outreach could not be more significant. Ghosh noted that the growing partnership is about more than trade\u2014it\u2019s about shared growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe opportunities are mutually reinforcing. When Singaporean and South African businesses work together, we create value that benefits both economies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A delegation of companies from a country ranked among the world’s smartest cities is in South Africa to explore opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":840923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[3482,6266,23910,853],"class_list":["post-840910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-reuters","tag-singapore","tag-smart-city-index","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840910"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":841580,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840910\/revisions\/841580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}