Meridium at CanCham's Behind Closed Doors with JETCO

Meridium’s Managing Director, David Stepat, attended Behind Closed Doors with JETCO on 1 October 2026, an invite-only lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore. The event was hosted by the Johor Economic, Tourism and Cultural Office (JETCO), the Johor state government’s office in Singapore, in partnership with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Singapore (CanCham). It brought a small group of CanCham members and friends together with a senior delegation from Johor to explore investment, expansion and partnership opportunities in the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ).

A senior delegation from Johor

After a welcome address by Marlene Han, Founding President of CanCham, JETCO Executive Chairman Dato’ Hasni Mohammad gave the opening address and introduced the Johor delegation. It included the High Commissioner of Malaysia to Singapore, H.E. Datin Paduka Anizan Siti Hajjar Adnin; YB Lee Ting Han, Chairman of the Johor State Committee for Investment, Trade, Consumer Affairs and Human Resources; and senior representatives of Invest Johor, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, the Invest Malaysia Facilitation Centre Johor (IMFC-J) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Each CanCham guest introduced their business before lunch, and the programme closed with an open question-and-answer dialogue. The closed-door format gave guests the chance to put their questions directly to the officials responsible for attracting and facilitating investment in Johor.

Why the JS-SEZ matters for companies in Singapore

Singapore and Malaysia signed the agreement establishing the JS-SEZ on 7 January 2025. The zone covers nine flagship areas across southern Johor, including the Johor Bahru waterfront, Iskandar Puteri, Tanjung Pelepas, Senai-Skudai and Pengerang, and aims to roll out 50 projects in its first five years and 100 within a decade. Malaysia’s incentives for the zone include:

• A special corporate tax rate of 5% for up to 15 years for companies making new investments in high-growth, high-value activities in the zone.
• A concessionary personal income tax rate of 15% for up to 10 years for eligible knowledge workers employed there.
• IMFC-J, a facilitation centre set up to speed up the approvals and licences foreign businesses need in Johor.

Getting across the border is also about to become easier: the Johor Bahru-Singapore RTS Link, a rail shuttle between Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru and Woodlands North in Singapore, is on course to start passenger service in 2027.

For the foreign companies Meridium works with, the JS-SEZ adds a real option to their regional plans: headquarters, management and treasury functions in Singapore, with manufacturing, operations or support teams across the Causeway. Making that work depends on getting the details right, from how the two entities are owned and transact with each other, to where staff are employed and how each company stays compliant on its side of the border.

“Johor and Singapore are increasingly being planned as one business region, and the JS-SEZ gives that idea a real framework. Hearing directly from the Johor delegation, and being able to put practical questions to the people facilitating investment on the ground, was invaluable. For the foreign companies we work with, the opportunity lies in combining the two: Singapore for regional headquarters, governance and access to capital, Johor for land, talent and lower operating costs. That only works when the structure behind it is set up properly from day one. Our thanks to JETCO and CanCham for bringing the right people into one room.”

David Stepat, Managing Director, Meridium

If you are weighing a Singapore and Johor structure for your regional operations, the free Singapore Setup Planner is a good place to start. You can also contact us to talk it through.

Sources for the JS-SEZ details: Singapore Economic Development Board, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) and Land Transport Authority.