Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are essential to Singapore’s economic strategy, and the Government is committed to helping them succeed.
This was said by Senior Minister of State Chee Hong Tat in a recent dialogue with SME bosses. The dialogue session was organised by NTUC U SME.
“The latest move that we have made in combining IE Singapore and SPRING Singapore into Enterprise Singapore shows the commitment of wanting a single agency to help drive SME-related issues, and to be able to see how we can help SMEs in both domestic and overseas developments,” he said.
He added that when businesses succeed, workers will ultimately benefit as well.
“When our businesses do well and are competitive, then we can focus on how we can pay workers well and send them for training. I understand that if businesses cannot deal with day-to-day operations, it will be difficult for me to persuade you to invest in the training of your workers,” said Mr Chee.
He also said that to achieve a pro-worker economic environment, Singapore must have a pro-business economic climate.
“I know that our union leaders also believe in this. In Singapore, our unions work with businesses to help you do well because we have a fundamental belief that if businesses do well, the workers will do well, and the country will do well. This is a philosophy we need to continuously enforce,” he added.
