{"id":30054,"date":"2026-02-20T19:35:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=30054"},"modified":"2026-02-20T19:35:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:35:36","slug":"growing-singapore-middle-east-ties-open-doors-for-singaporeans-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=30054","title":{"rendered":"Growing Singapore-Middle East ties open doors for Singaporeans abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>BACKING FIRMS TO GO OVERSEAS, AND CREATE LOCAL JOBS<\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Singapore is stepping up engagement with the Middle East, supporting more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to expand into fast-growing Gulf markets.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Last year, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) opened the Singapore Enterprise Centre in Dubai to provide market advice, networking and business-matching support.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Creating jobs in Singapore remains a key objective even as companies expand abroad, it said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Enhancements to the market readiness assistance grant, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/singapore\/budget-2026-jobs-economy-companies-overseas-partnerships-5925766\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced at Budget 2026<\/a>, will raise support for SMEs from 50 per cent to up to 70 per cent of eligible costs from Apr 1, capped at S$100,000 per company per new market.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWith the market readiness assistant grant, we hope to get more companies to go overseas, and as they go overseas, they will likely generate jobs for Singaporeans in supply chain coordination, in business development and in regional operations,\u201d said SBF CEO Kok Ping Soon.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While it is difficult to put a firm number on how many roles may be created, Mr Kok noted that SBF facilitated about 200 overseas projects last year.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cEach of these companies typically needs about two to three Singaporeans for a start to explore some of these opportunities,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But Mr Kok stressed that overseas expansion is not just about placing Singaporeans abroad \u2013 it is about helping companies grow their international operations in ways that ultimately create more roles back home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/singapore\/firms-expand-middle-east-jobs-business-federation-5942461\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BACKING FIRMS TO GO OVERSEAS, AND CREATE LOCAL JOBS Singapore is stepping up engagement with the Middle East, supporting more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}