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Singapore and Qatar agreed to boost cooperation in the fields of liquefied natural gas and low-carbon technology.

It is part of the efforts to jointly cope with the global energy crisis caused by the Mideast situation.

A ceremony for renewing the memorandum of understanding took place in Doha on October 19 with the leaders of the two countries in attendance.

According to a joint statement issued after the Ninth Qatar-Singapore high-level joint committee meeting, the recent convention reportedly aims at establishing a stable LNG supply network in consideration of the current market situation.

Singapore produces nearly 95 percent of its electricity by relying on imported natural gas and about 25 percent of the gas has been imported from Qatar.

In the recent meeting the leaders of the two countries reaffirmed the long-standing bilateral bonds and welcomed cooperation in such fields as trade and investment, energy and defence.

They also expressed serious concern over the Mideast situation and stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy in promoting regional peace and stability.

They emphasized the need to defend the right and freedom of navigation granted by international law and ensure that international maritime transport routes including the Strait of Hormuz remain open, safe and secure.

The Singaporean Foreign Ministry announced that the two countries agreed to strive to upgrade bilateral relations onto a strategic partnership.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean government pointed to the necessity to abandon the practice of relying only on natural resources, an outdated economic method from the colonial era, build up industrial forces in the African region and adopt a mode of circular economy.

The Zimbabwean minister of foreign affairs and international trade referred to the need to save materials and resources as much as possible by adopting the mode of circular economy and thereby embody the economic mode of maximizing the value of resources and minimizing the generation of waste.

African countries had used the mode of economic management based on production and exchange, which is similar to the mode of circular economy, in the pre-colonial era, but the raw material export-oriented economic mode appeared with the advent of the colonial era, he said.

Now is the time to adopt a new economic mode that suits the actual situation of Africa and this is just emancipation in the way of thinking, he noted.

The abolition of the old economic mode from the colonial era is indispensable for realizing the stable and sustainable industrialization through circular economy, he said, stressing that it is important to steadily develop science and technology and establish a unified natural resource management system.

The present situation requires the reorganization of the global economy in the direction of strengthening strategic fields, including sustainable energy, digitization technology and industrial forces, he said, adding that unless the regional forces are strengthened in keeping with such development trend, Africa might lag behind other regions.