SAN FRANCISCO – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday said he hoped America will continue to pursue deeper ties with Asia at a time when security concerns are trumping trade considerations.

“Today, amidst a more complex global environment, strategic and security concerns are increasingly overriding free trade and economic welfare considerations,” PM Lee said as he launched Enterprise Singapore’s (EnterpriseSG) San Francisco Overseas Centre.

“But we are hopeful that despite this trend, America will maintain and even strengthen its relationship with Asia and the rest of the world. Because countries, even big countries, still need to do business and trade with one another, not just for our collective prosperity, but also because trade is an important facet of international cooperation and peace,” he noted.

“And we also hope for major economies like the US, which play an anchor role in so many situations around the world, to be deeply engaged with the world, influencing it, cooperating with it, and benefiting from it.”

PM Lee arrived in San Francisco on Monday for a six-day working visit to attend the annual leaders’ meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum hosted by the United States. 

The new San Francisco office is EnterpriseSG’s 37th overseas centre and comes in response to Singapore companies’ growing appetite to enter the US market.

Its launch marks a step up in Singapore’s engagement on the West Coast, PM Lee said, as he noted that Singapore is the third-largest Asian investor in the US, while America is Singapore’s largest foreign investor.

The bilateral relationship has branched into new areas including climate change, cyber security, space, and critical and emerging technologies.

The regional dimension is also getting a boost with growing expectations from the incipient Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the Biden administration’s 14-nation initiative yoking key economies including Singapore.

As a small and open economy, Singapore’s best course is to push ahead with doing business with the world, PM Lee noted. “That is why Singapore continues to do our best to advance our cooperation – to encourage our companies to be present here in America, as well as to invite American companies to invest in Singapore,” he said.

The San Francisco Bay Area – which includes the tech mecca Silicon Valley – has been an important region for promising Singaporean start-ups to meet strategic partners and gain backing that can elevate them to the global stage, he noted.

“We enjoy a good level of cooperation today, but I am confident it can be even better,” he said.

He also invited US companies to look east. “For our American friends seeking opportunities in Singapore, or in the vibrant and growing Asia-Pacific region, our message to you is this: Singapore is wide open for business,” he said.

California’s Lieutenant-Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Singapore’s US Ambassador Lui Tuck Yew, US Ambassador to Singapore Jonathan Kaplan and Mr Charles Freeman, senior vice-president for Asia at the US Chamber of Commerce, were also at the launch.

Singapore companies have to necessarily venture overseas to grow, said Mr Lee Chuan Teck, the chief executive of EnterpriseSG.  

“We want to build bridges so that Singapore companies can land and grow here,” he said.

“Given the size of Singapore, for many companies, growth means venturing abroad – uncovering new markets, investing in production facilities, sourcing for supplies,” he added.

“In all these, our overseas centres, with their wide networks, can play a very useful role.”

Nearly 200 Singapore companies now operate in the US, in areas spanning from healthcare and fintech to manufacturing and retail. Larger ones, such as ST Engineering and Singtel, have set up corporate venture capital arms in the US to invest in start-ups. 

ST Engineering in 2022 invested US$2.68 billion (S$3.62 billion) to acquire local transportation tech company TransCore, which serves eight of the 10 largest road tolling agencies in the US.

The global technology, defence and engineering group is a prominent face of Singaporean corporate presence in the US, where it has been operating for more than three decades. Its US operations, employing 7,000 people, pull in a third of the group’s total revenues.

In its latest success, ST Engineering North America’s subsidiary MAK Technologies – a leading provider of military simulation technology – won a training contract from the US Marine Corps in June. Using the company’s immersive technology, the marines will practise their decision-making skills in realistic scenarios that combine live, virtual and augmented reality.

“We will continue to tap EnterpriseSG to build our corporate venture capital unit and leverage their local support and understanding and knowledge of the local start-up markets – for example, on legal and taxation matters which differ across states,” said Ms Cheryl Chan, group chief strategy and sustainability officer and president of new ventures at ST Engineering.

Another beneficiary of the new EnterpriseSG centre is Auk Industries, a software company which helps manufacturing firms track the performance and health of their machines on the factory floor. 

Its North America director Terence Chan said participating in trade shows with help from EnterpriseSG helped the firm suss competition and prospects.

“One of these leads ended up being our first customer in Mexico,” he told The Straits Times.

Around 50 business leaders from Singapore and the US, senior officials from the US government, academic and research institutions and the start-up ecosystem community also attended Tuesday’s event.

During his visit to Silicon Valley, PM Lee also met Apple chief Tim Cook and toured Google’s offices, where he was given a briefing on various AI and other advanced technology projects that the firm is working on.