Singapore and Malaysia engage in cross-border trade data exchange
By Si Ying Thian
The collaboration between SGTraDex and MYEG would allow their digital IDs, electronic trade documents, and regulatory credentials to be recognised in both countries.
Front row from the left: Zetrix's Co-Founder, Dato' Fadzli Shah; SGTraDex's Chairman, Tan Chin Hwee, at the ASEAN-GCC-China CEO Roundtable during the MoU signing ceremony. Image: Zetrix
Singapore Trade Data Exchange (SGTraDex) and MY E.G. Services Berhad (MYEG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on May 25, 2025, to integrate their digital infrastructures to facilitate trade data exchange.
Under the agreement, both parties would establish interoperable data standards, share regulatory knowledge, and coordinate sandboxes to jointly develop products for verifying trade documents.
The MoU was signed at the ASEAN-GCC-China CEO Roundtable hosted by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council.
Both SGTraDex and MYEG are considered digital public infrastructures (DPI), which are common data infrastructures that enable the trusted and secure sharing of data between businesses as well as citizens.
What this means
The collaboration was aimed at establishing a secure and seamless channel to exchange trade-related data between the two countries.
According to the official statement, the technical integration of both platforms was enabled through blockchain technology by MYEG’s Zetrix. The integration would also tap on globally accepted standards like the TradeTrust framework that is currently used on SGTraDex.
This new system is expected to boost transparency and security for cross-border transactions as verified information shared between governments and businesses becomes unchangeable and trackable.
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Why does this matter
As part of the Southeast Asia region’s efforts to strengthen supply chain resilience, the collaboration also targeted to digitise trade flows through verifiable electronic records.
This aligned with the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework to drive digital trade and cross-border opportunities in the region.
“By aligning efforts with close partners like Malaysia, we are taking steps toward greater interoperability and connectivity, which will contribute to more inclusive digital growth across the region," said SGTraDex’s Chairman, Tan Chin Hwee, in the statement.
Beyond ASEAN, the statement highlighted that the collaboration was expected to “serve as a launchpad for wider regional integration, including with China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.”
UN ESCAP’s Under-Secretary-General, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, recently wrote on GovInsider advocating for governments to accelerate trade digitalisation to bolster trade resilience amid recent global shocks.
What this builds upon
On secure and seamless trade, SGTraDex and the Trade Finance Registry (TFR) launched an automated digital tool that tackles trade finance fraud earlier this year.
“Banks will submit relevant trade document data points to the TFR for duplicate financing checks and [bill of lading] BL verification.
“SGTraDex will then route a request for information to carrier data aggregators,” reported The Straits Times previously.
GovInsider also recently covered Malaysia’s plans to build a national blockchain infrastructure, also powered by MYEG’s Zetrix, to make it easier for businesses to build blockchain applications.
This move is expected to benefit Malaysia’s national digital ID, MyDigitalID “which in turn would enable identity verification for complex cross-border and commercial use cases.”