Meridium at the SBF Future of Trade Forum 2026

Meridium’s Managing Director, David Stepat, attended the Future of Trade Forum on 30 September 2026, organised by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Singapore’s apex business chamber, and its Centre for the Future of Trade and Investment. Under the theme “From Turbulence to Transformation: Building the Next Architecture of Global Trade”, the forum brought business leaders together with policymakers and senior representatives of the International Chamber of Commerce and the World Trade Organization.

Singapore as a trusted connector

Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Grace Fu addressed the forum on how businesses can adapt as geopolitical tension and fragmenting supply chains make trade more complex. She described Singapore’s aim to remain a trusted connector for global trade, and pointed to Singapore’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2027, the grouping’s 60th anniversary year, as an opportunity to deepen regional integration.

Two announcements are directly useful for companies operating here:

• BizSG, a new digital portal from the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Enterprise Singapore, went live at the forum. It helps businesses find and access government support, including personalised grant recommendations for small and medium-sized enterprises.
• The Trade and Investment Competency Framework, which SBF is developing with the support of Enterprise Singapore, will recognise and build trade expertise in the workforce.

The programme also included a panel discussion on digitalising trade flows, a theme the minister also took up: paperless trade only delivers its benefits when standards and systems connect across countries and the private sector takes part.

What it means for companies in Singapore

For the foreign companies Meridium works with, most of them building or running a Singapore base for their business in Asia, these shifts become practical questions: where to place regional functions, how to structure entities and supply chains, and which support schemes to apply for.

“Global trade is not retreating; it is being reorganised, and companies are rethinking where they base their regional operations and how they structure them. What came through clearly today is how deliberately Singapore is positioning itself as a trusted connector through that change. For foreign companies, a well-run Singapore entity, with sound governance and compliance behind it, has become a strategic asset rather than an administrative necessity.”

David Stepat, Managing Director, Meridium

If you are reviewing where and how to set up your regional operations, the free Singapore Setup Planner is a good place to start. You can also contact us to talk it through.

Source for the minister's remarks: speech by Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Grace Fu at the Future of Trade Forum, Ministry of Trade and Industry, 30 September 2026.