Synopsis
As the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) continues to gain momentum, it is rapidly emerging as a strategic platform for businesses seeking to enhance regional integration, tap into cross-border supply chains, and access new growth opportunities in Southeast Asia. With its promise of streamlined regulatory processes, infrastructure connectivity, and strong bilateral support from both Singapore and Malaysia, the JS-SEZ is set to become a key driver of economic collaboration in the region.
This event will convene a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including representatives from government agencies, banks, real estate advisors, consultancy firms, and companies already operating on the ground—for a series of panel discussions focused on the practical aspects of engaging with the zone.
Organised in collaboration with OCBC, EuroCham aims to foster meaningful dialogue and knowledge-sharing among European companies and regional stakeholders.
Participants will gain insights into:
- Regulatory frameworks, investment incentives, and tax structures that support business expansion in the JS-SEZ
- Banking and financing mechanisms, including cross-border transaction facilitation and funding instruments
- Real estate, land availability, and infrastructure planning for establishing a business presence
- Operational experiences and case studies from early movers who have set up in the zone
Programme
08.30 am Registration and Networking
09.00 am Welcome Remarks by Mr Jens Rübbert, President at EuroCham (Singapore)
09.05 am Opening Remarks by Mr Lee Shyong, Managing Director, JS-SEZ Project Working Group, Global Corporate Banking at OCBC
09.15 am Fireside Chat moderated by Ms Selena Ling, Chief Economist at OCBC
- Mr Herman Loh, Senior Vice President and Head, Southeast Asia and Oceania Division at Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)
- Mr Vinothan Tulisinathzan, Director at Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)
09.45 am Live Q&A
10.00 am Report summary by Ms Christine Li, Head of Research, Asia Pacific at Knight Frank
10.05 am Panel Discussion moderated by Mr Gregory Marimuthu, General Counsel at Gateway Law Corporation
- Mr Peer Rasmussen, Managing Director Singapore & Malaysia at Kuehne + Nagel
- Mr Giles Newmarch, Senior Investment Officer – Health and Education at International Finance Corporation (IFC)
- Ms Christine Li, Head of Research, Asia Pacific at Knight Frank
- Mr Datuk Ken Lee, Managing Director, Head Enterprise Banking, Commercial Banking, OCBC Malaysia
10.40 am Live Q&A
11.00 am Closing Remarks by Ms Nele Cornelis, Executive Director at EuroCham (Singapore)
11.05 am Networking Lunch
12.00 pm End of Event
The organisers reserve the right to change the programme content without giving prior notification or any reasons thereof.
Fireside Chat Speakers
Mr Herman Loh
Senior Vice President and Head, Southeast Asia and Oceania Division
Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)
Herman Loh joined the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) in 2019. He is the Vice-President & Head of the Regional Partnerships Division, and concurrently, Vice-President & Head of Region covering the markets of the Middle East, South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Until April 2021, he was concurrently Vice-President of the Conglomerates Division.
Prior to joining EDB, Herman spent over a decade in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), with a focus on the Southeast Asia region. He has also covered the Middle East, and South Asia regions during his MFA career. He was posted to the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta from 2009 to 2012, before being appointed as Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs & Minister for Law.
Herman graduated from University College, London, with a BSc and MSc in Economics.
Mr Vinothan Tulisinathzan
Director
Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)
Mr. Vinothan Tulisinathzan joined MIDA in 2007 and was attached to Agro-Based Industries Division whereby he was responsible for evaluation of projects for Manufacturing Licence, Incentives and Expatriate posts. Then, he was transferred to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Division and was responsible for attracting FDIs from Asia Oceania region such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. In 2012, he was posted to MIDA San Jose for five years and played a significant role in promoting investments from Silicon Valley into Malaysia.
From 2017-2021, he served in the Oil & Gas and Maritime Technology and Chemical & Advanced Material Divisions covering the development of Oil & Gas upstream activities and looking after the development of Petrochemicals, Plastics, Chemicals & Chemical Products, Oleo chemicals and Rubber Products Industries respectively. He has been appointed as the Director of MIDA Singapore since January 2022.
He holds a BA (Hons) majoring in Management Information System (MIS) from Tun Abdul Razak University (UNIRAZAK).
Fireside Chat Moderator
Ms Selena Ling
Chief Economist
OCBC
Selena is the Chief Economist for OCBC. As Global Head of Global Markets Research & Strategy, she leads a team that is responsible for macroeconomic insights, forecasts and trading recommendations for clients. The research coverage span foreign exchange, interest rates, corporate credit and macroeconomic commentary. Under her leadership, OCBC’s research capabilities have been greatly valued by customers and highly ranked in surveys.
She is a member of the OCBC Wealth Panel for Singapore and Malaysia, and Vice President and council member for the Economic Society of Singapore. She also sits on the Advisory Board of College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) Board of Governors. She was conferred the IBF Fellow Award in Financial Markets in 2017. Her research writings has been extensively quoted and published by prominent media across print, television and radio.
Prior to joining OCBC in August 2000, Selena was with the Fiscal Policy Unit under the Ministry of Finance (MOF), and the Economics Department in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI)
Panellists
Mr Peer Rasmussen
Managing Director Singapore & Malaysia
Kuehne + Nagel
Based in Singapore for the last 3 years, Peer is responsible for Kuehne + Nagels activities across Singapore and Malaysia, looking after the 4 core products, being sea logistics, air logistics, contract logistics and overland logistics. His focus is on customer development as well as business expansion across the cluster.
He has 27 years of experience in logistics starting from Denmark as a trainee within Scan-Shipping A/S. He was relocated to Los Angeles in California, where he spent 3 years managing a small department. From California he moved to Malaysia managing the country’s full P&L. It was in Malaysia he joined Kuehne + Nagel back in 2004. Having spend a total of 4 years in Malaysia he was asked to relocate to Bangkok Thailand, where he was in charge of Kuehne + Nagels sea logistics activities across Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. He then relocated to Shanghai, China from where he managed East China’s sea logistic activities. Having spent 2 years in Shanghai, Kuehne + Nagel asked him to move to Beijing where he took over the general management position looking after the 4 key products, for north/east China including the agency in Mongolia. Having successfully managed this position for 3 years, Peer was asked to move back to Shanghai, into a larger and more complex role, taking over the East China Cluster.
After 4 years back in Shanghai, Kuehne + Nagel needed Peer to take over the Indian cluster, which covers India, Sri Lanka and The Maldives. With Delhi as his base he successfully drove India to become the largest EBIT contributor within the Asia Pacific region, and he steered the organisation through the Pandemic.In 2021 he relocated to Singapore where he has been since.
After his military duty in Denmark he studied at CBS (Copenhagen Business School) and obtained his bachelor of international logistics. Peer is happily married and has 3 children.
Ms Christine Li
Head of Research, Asia Pacific
Knight Frank
Christine is the Head of Research, APAC at Knight Frank. She has over 15 years of industry experience, helping to shape the long- term business strategy by developing and implementing research initiatives that feed into the research centre of excellence for potential broader application. She curates and co-ordinates regional forecasts and market outlook for clients across the office, industrial and residential sectors as well as specialist asset classes such as student accommodation, multi-family and data centres.
Prior to joining Knight Frank, Christine was the Head of Business Development Services for Southeast Asia, overseeing both the research and marketing resources. She was responsible for managing and delivering real estate and economic research and strategic analysis, with the view of providing research-based perspectives to commercial leasing and investment processes. Her insight and in-depth knowledge of the real estate market is also well sought-after by both the local and international media. Christine began her real estate career as a property correspondent and commentator with Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) where she interviewed key market players from listed company CEOs to top government officials on various property- related issues. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Cornell University (US) and a Master of Arts degree in Media and Communications from University of London (UK).
Mr Giles Newmarch
Senior Investment Officer – Health and Education
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Giles is a seasoned healthcare and education corporate development and investment professional with over 20 years of experience. In his current role with IFC, Giles leads project development and advisory in health and education across Asia and the Pacific. Prior to joining IFC, Giles lead the Asia expansion of two listed Australian healthcare companies. A significant amount of Giles’ time has been spent in creating and developing markets, and establishing partnerships with leading healthcare and education organizations. Giles has previously worked in business consulting and private equity sectors. Giles holds a Masters in International Business from Grenoble Ecole De Management, France.
Mr Datuk Ken Lee
Managing Director, Head of Enterprise Banking, Commercial Banking
OCBC Malaysia
Datuk Ken recently rejoined OCBC Bank Malaysia in 2024. He is the Managing Director, Head of Enterprise Banking covering the markets in Johor and East Malaysia. Datuk Ken comes with 3 decades of a unique professional journey in Banking, Insurtech and Telecommunication industry.
He began his career in banking where he spent 15 years in Corporate Banking and SME banking with OCBC Bank, Citibank and Hong Leong Bank. Thereafter he left the banking industry where he spent the following 15 years in Malaysian telcos such as Maxis, CelcomDigi and Bolttech, where he served the enterprises with telecommunication and device protection solutions before rejoining OCBC Bank again last year. Datuk Ken graduated from The California State University with a BSc In Finance and from The University of Hull with a MBA.
Moderator
Mr Gregory Marimuthu
General Counsel
Gateway Law Corporation
Gregory is the General Counsel of Gateway Law Corporation, a regional law firm headquartered in Singapore with a strong focus on corporate, commercial, and intellectual property matters.
In his role, Gregory supports businesses expanding across Southeast Asia, advising on cross-border regulatory compliance, investment structuring, risk management, and market entry strategies. He works closely with companies establishing operations in emerging growth zones, providing practical legal and commercial insights to help them navigate the complexities of regional integration.
Gregory has extensive experience assisting multinational corporations, SMEs, and start-ups in structuring franchising, licensing, and cross-border collaborations. His advisory work emphasises pragmatic solutions that align with business objectives while ensuring regulatory soundness.
He also serves as a director of Gateway IP Services, a Malaysian company providing corporate and intellectual property support services across the region. In this capacity, he continues to foster cross-border partnerships and facilitate business expansion initiatives between Singapore, Malaysia, and beyond.
Gregory actively engages with business chambers, trade networks, and professional associations to promote knowledge-sharing on regional trade and investment issues.
POST EVENT
On 13 May, EuroCham Singapore’s Supply Chain Committee, in collaboration with OCBC, organised an event exploring investment and trade opportunities between Singapore and Malaysia, anchored around the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS SEZ).
We would like to thank OCBC and the team, Ms Selena Ling, Mr Shyong Lee, Ms Jacklyn Quek and Mr Leiwen Pang, for a warm welcome and hosting the event. We are also grateful to our distinguished speakers, Mr Herman Loh (Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), Mr Vinothan Tulisinathzan (Malaysian Investment Development Authority) Mr Gregory Marimuthu (Gateway Law Corporation), Mr Peer Gjoew Rasmussen (Kuehne+Nagel), Mr Giles Newmarch (IFC – International Finance Corporation), Ms Christine Li (Knight Frank) and Mr Dato’ Kenneth Lee (D.I.M.P) (MBA) (OCBC Malaysia), for their invaluable sharing.
The JS-SEZ is more than an initiative. It’s a blueprint for resilient, regional growth. It was framed as a “win-win-win-win” for Singapore, Malaysia, businesses, and the wider region for its attractive incentives, including a corporate tax rate of just 5% for up to 15 years and a 15% flat income tax for 10 years for skilled professionals, enhanced connectivity with infrastructure developments like Rapid Transit System (RTS) that will be operational by 2026, rental and labour savings and a strong commitment to environmentally friendly development.
