Singapore can be the safe place for the world to Connect@Singapore!

Business travellers find themselves marooned at home because of travel restrictions imposed by governments and because of concern over their own safety.

With ingenuity, Singapore is creating opportunities for ourselves to allow the world to reconnect again – safely in Singapore.

The initiative is called Connect@Singapore.

Announcing the initiative at Connect@Changi on Tuesday, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said the initiative will play an important role in supporting the revival of Singapore’s air hub status and hospitality sector.

Business travellers who are unable to meet in each other countries can now safely meet in Singapore face-to-face without going through quarantine.

“We have received feedback from various business partners that many of them are looking forward to resuming some of these meetings with their management teams across the region, and that it’s very difficult for them to travel around the region now,” Mr Chan said.

At Connect@Changi, the first of the facility to be built, international travellers meet in specially designed meeting rooms fitted with air-tight glass panels. Each side of the room is cooled by separate air-con circulating systems. Cool, isn’t it?

Travellers will have to stay in the facility. There are comfortable guest rooms and other amenities for them.

“This is part of our Connect@Singapore initiative to facilitate essential global business exchanges between international travellers, and between them and locals. We aim to be a safe and secure meeting place for travellers on short-term stays of up to 14 days, who may otherwise not be able to conduct face-to-face meetings due to travel restrictions,” Mr Chan said in an Instagram post.

To provide assurance for their safety and the safety of those meeting them, travellers will undergo regular routine testing and strictly observe all prevailing Safe Management Measures.

Very importantly, international travellers will be tested and given a clean bill of health before they go onward on their journey back home or to other places. This is so that there will be no misunderstanding that anyone may have caught the virus in Singapore.

Although there has been positive news on the vaccine development front, we do not expect the current situation to blow over quickly, Mr Chan said.

Conncect@Singapore is another step in our aim to re-establish ourselves as the business hub and as a financial hub where people can come and do business, and be assured of their health and safety in Singapore, he added.