Singapore and Vietnam Advance ASEAN Power Grid Goal through Offshore Wind Power Trade Cooperation and Cross-Border Electricity Trade
On 12 March 2025, Singapore and Vietnam endorsed the Joint Report on Offshore Wind Power Trade Cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore (“Joint Report“):
- facilitating regulatory approvals and licenses from both governments for renewable energy development and cross-border electricity trade (“CBET“);
- enabling deeper bilateral cooperation in infrastructure development, research, technology, and capacity-building; and
- affirming the shared commitment to work closely with other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN“) Member States to achieve the goal of realising the ASEAN Power Grid by 2045, including developing a framework and terms of reference for subsea power cables.
Building on the Joint Report and an earlier Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on energy cooperation between Singapore and Vietnam in 2022, Singapore and Vietnam signed a Letter of Intent to enhance cooperation in CBET for the ASEAN Power Grid on 26 March 2025 to:
- reaffirm both countries’ commitment to establishing a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient ASEAN Power Grid. This Grid will consist of multiple energy interconnections to advance ASEAN’s vision of multilateral and multidirectional cross-border power trade and enhanced energy security;
- explore ways to increase the targeted capacity of low-carbon electricity imports from Vietnam to Singapore to approximately 2GW by 2035, building on the capacity conditionally approved under the Project; and
- continue engagement with interested companies that have credible and commercially viable proposals.
For more information, click here to read our Legal Update.
Singapore Launches New AI Safety Initiatives at Global AI Action Summit
The Artificial Intelligence Action Summit (“Summit“) was held on 10 and 11 February 2025 in Paris, at which political, business and civil society leaders came together to foster international cooperation in key areas of artificial intelligence (“AI“), including AI governance, innovation, and safety.
At the Summit, Singapore’s Minister for Digital Development and Information, Mrs Josephine Teo, introduced new AI governance initiatives to enhance the safety of AI for Singaporeans and global citizens (the press release for which is available here). This is in recognition of the importance of ensuring the safety of AI systems and the key functions of AI governance, as well as the transboundary nature of AI products and services. The initiatives are as follows:
- Global AI Assurance Pilot– This is a testbed to establish global best practices around technical testing of generative AI (“GenAI“) applications.
- Joint Testing Report with Japan– This collaboration with Japan aims to make Large Language Models (“LLMs“) safer in different linguistic environments through assessing if guardrails hold up in non-English settings.
- Singapore AI Safety Red Teaming Challenge Evaluation Report – This seeks to help understand how LLMs perform with regard to different languages and cultures in the Asia-Pacific region, and if the safeguards hold up in these contexts.
For more information, click here to read our Legal Update.
Measures Introduced to Strengthen Singapore's Equities Market such as Financial Support, Tax Incentives and Streamlining Regulatory Framework Towards More Disclosure-Based Regime
On 21 February 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS“) shared the first set of measures proposed by the Equities Market Review Group to enhance the competitiveness of Singapore’s equities market. These measures build on the existing and earlier measures previously introduced, which target various structural challenges such as low liquidity, declining numbers of initial public offerings and limited investor participation in the Singapore public equity market, and were formulated after months of consultation with industry stakeholders. This first set of measures encompasses the pillars of demand and supply, complemented with regulatory initiatives. This includes:
- Demand: Measures to boost investor interest and liquidity;
- Supply: Measures to enhance the appeal to quality listings; and
- Regulatory Measures: Transition towards a more disclosure-based listing regime and bolster investor confidence. The Singapore Exchange Regulation and MAS will issue consultation papers on the relevant regulatory measures by mid-2025.
For more information, click here to read our Legal Update which provides an overview of the first set of measures. The second set of measures is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
Singapore Green Bond Framework Updated to Align with Singapore-Asia Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance
On 23 January 2025, the Ministry of Finance issued the second edition of the Singapore Green Bond Framework (January 2025) (“2025 Framework“), updating the first edition issued in June 2022. The 2025 Framework is a critical part of Singapore’s overarching sustainability strategy and governs the issuance of sovereign green bonds under the Significant Infrastructure Government Loan Act 2021. It also provides a reference point for Statutory Boards’ respective green bond frameworks. The proceeds from such issuances are used to finance green public sector projects.
This Update provides a quick snapshot of the 2025 Framework. One of the significant updates in the 2025 Framework is its alignment with the latest sustainable finance standards, including the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance (December 2023).
For more information, click here to read our Legal Update.
Malaysia and Singapore Launch Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Programme
On 18 January 2025, the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (“MyIPO“) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS“) launched a Patent Prosecution Highway (“PPH“) pilot programme to allow patent applicants to request expedited examination of their applications at either office. The pilot programme runs for a period of two years until 18 January 2027.
PPH is a work-sharing programme whereby a patent application is examined by referencing examination results from another intellectual property office. By relying on the examination results from one office to accelerate the examination process by the other, the patent prosecution becomes faster and more efficient.
The commencement of the MyIPO and IPOS PPH pilot programme marks a significant step towards strengthened patent cooperation between the two offices.
New SIAC Rules, Schedule of Fees in Effect from 1 January 2025
On 9 December 2024, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC“) published the 7th edition of the Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“2025 Rules“). Key changes include:
- new procedures, namely the Streamlined Procedure, Preliminary Determination and Coordinated Proceedings;
- revisions to the Expedited Procedure and Emergency Arbitrator procedure;
- updated appointment provisions;
- incorporation of SIAC Gateway, SIAC’s online case management system; and
- provisions guiding parties to consider mediation.
SIAC also published a revised Schedule of Fees. The fees have generally gone up across the board, taking into account the broader range of SIAC’s administrative services. The one exception is for the new Streamlined Procedure, where SIAC’s minimum administration fee of S$2,500 is half of the equivalent for regular cases.
Both the 2025 Rules and the Revised Schedule took effect on 1 January 2025 and apply to arbitrations commenced on or after that date.
In this article, we review the key changes between the 6th edition and the 2025 Rules as set out above.
For more information, click here to read our Legal Update.
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Please note that whilst the information in this Update is correct to the best of our knowledge and belief at the time of writing, it is only intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter and should not be treated as a substitute for specific professional advice
