1                    The Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Joint Working Committee met today (1 July 2008) in Tianjin to discuss proposed changes to the Master Plan for the Eco-city following public consultation in China, as well as preliminary detailed plans of the Start-up Area.  Ms Grace Fu, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State (SMS) for National Development and Education, and Mr Qiu Baoxing, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China  (PRC), co-chaired the meeting.

Signing of Key Agreements

2                    After the JWC meeting, SMS Grace Fu, Vice-Minister Qiu Baoxing and Mr Gou Lijun, Standing Committee Member of Tianjin CPC and Director-General of the Tianjin Binhai New Area signed the Second Supplementary Agreement on the Eco-city.  This agreement formalises the roles, powers and responsibilities of the Eco-city Administrative Committee (ECAC) set up by the Tianjin Municipal Government to oversee the planning and development of the project.  Two other commercial agreements were also signed – an agreement between the Singapore Consortium and the Chinese Consortium on the formation of a joint venture company to develop the project, and an agreement between the ECAC and the joint venture company to formalise the commercial terms of the project.

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

1 JULY 2008