Guest of Honour – Mr Heng Swee Keat

Mr Heng Swee Keat

Deputy Prime Minister and
Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies
Singapore

Biography

Mr Heng Swee Keat is Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies.

Mr Heng chairs the tripartite Future Economy Council which oversees the on-going restructuring of Singapore’s economy, through upgrading the skills of workers and transformation of industry, to create better career prospects for Singaporeans. He leads a team to oversee the design and implementation of national strategies in areas such as skills and capabilities development, innovation and productivity as well as the internationalisation of companies.

He is also the Chairman of the National Research Foundation, which sets the direction for Singapore’s research, innovation and enterprise (RIE) strategies. Mr Heng is overseeing the closer integration of Singapore’s RIE and industry transformation efforts.

Mr Heng served as Minister for Education from 2011 to 2015. He also led the year-long Our Singapore Conversation from 2012 that helped to engage more than 47,000 Singaporeans from all walks of life through dialogues.

He also served as Minister for Finance from 2015 to 2021, overseeing ten national Budgets including an unprecedented five Budgets to support Singaporeans and businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Mr Heng has an MA in Economics from Cambridge University. He also holds a Master in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.