Mr Yang Zheng Quan, Deputy Director-general of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to join you this morning at the ‘Service Excellence for a Brighter Future’ Forum. Organised by Channel NewsAsia, the second instalment of this event is an excellent platform for China and Singapore tourism and service industry professionals to discuss current issues and share experiences.

 2 Singapore and China have a longstanding and fruitful relationship spanning economic, business, arts and culture, both at the government-to-government and people-to-people levels. Last year, our countries signed the Singapore-China Cultural Agreement at the Joint Council on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) Meeting in Beijing. This significant milestone provides more opportunities for bilateral collaborations in areas such as the arts, heritage, library, media and the creative industries.

 China’s Tourism and Service Industry

 3 China will be the center of the world’s attention this year. Through hosting the Olympic Games, the charm of China’s culture will be showcased to the world. The momentum for ‘Service Quality’ has picked up ever since China started preparing for the Beijing Olympics. I understand that since Beijing’s 500-day countdown, the s ervice industries have pledged to offer their customers courteous services in an effort to better prepare to receive hundreds of thousands of visitors.

4 Beijing Olympic organisers have also committed to providing the world media with quality and efficient services during the Olympic Games. Regulations regarding news coverage of foreign media are formulated in line with Olympic practices, with the aim of facilitating their news coverage. Furthermore, through education campaigns, security service forces like police officers and state-approved volunteers are better able to provide "cordial, civilized, professional and high-quality" security services at the Games.

5 In recent years, sustainable economic development, and especially green GDP, has become an important goal for the Chinese government. In this regard, making efforts to develop the tourism and service industries is important for the upgrading of the country’s industrial structure

Singapore ’s Service Industry

6 Over the past few decades, Singapore has experienced a successful transformation from a manufacturing to a service economy. In the last seven years, Singapore's tourism and service industries have been upgraded substantially from a tourism industry targeted at the local and surrounding economies to one that occupies a main part of Asia’s, and the world’s, high-quality service industry.

7 We recognise that everyone, ranging from the service staff, employers and even the customer have a role to play in service excellence. Therefore, Go-the-Extra-Mile-for-Service or GEMS was launched in 2005 as a nation-wide movement to raise service levels and develop a culture of service excellence.

8 Singapore Service Class (S-Class) is the certification awarded to organisations that excel incustomer service. It is a national recognition for organisations that have management systems and processes in place to achieve service excellence, ensure sustained performance in the area of service delivery and customer satisfaction thus enabling companies to compete effectively for a bigger share of the visitor traffic and raise service standards in Singapore.

9 A survey was commissioned by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to solicit feedback from the overseas delegates who were in Singapore to attend the Singapore 2006 series of meetings and events, including the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. The findings revealed that the majority of delegates were impressed by the level of service standards in Singapore.

Channel NewsAsia

 10 Today’s forum is organised by Channel News Asia together with their partners in China. As Asia’s foremost news and information channel offering Asian perspectives, Channel NewsAsia creates content that appeals to discerning viewers who want balanced, objective information. From its humble beginnings as a local terrestrial channel just nine years ago, the channel has spread its wings and launched a regional feed that is today seen in some 22 countries in Asia.

11 In this exciting year of the Beijing Olympics, Channel News Asia, through its programmes and news reporting, plans to take China to the rest of Asia, showcasing its unique hospitality and services, and to show how far China has come to be a formidable play in this industry. Channel News Asia hopes to be China’s window to Asia – bringing you timely and objective reporting on Asia and the world. It could be the bridge between China and Singapore, and between China and Asia, contributing to the growth and prosperity in this region.

Conclusion

12 I wish this Forum success in invigorating a lively discussion that will enable sharing and learning, resulting in new and better solutions in building a world-class service culture. I am optimistic that this event will also sharpen our competitive edge, and build a strong brand for the tourism and service industries of both China and Singapore.

Thank you.