Shenzhen and Singapore Sign Cross-Border Low-Altitude Cooperation Memorandum: A New Journey for the Air Silk Road and a Breakthrough in Institutional Opening-Up

In October 2025, Shenzhen and Singapore officially signed a memorandum of understanding on cross-border low-altitude collaborative development, marking that the cooperation between the two countries in the low-altitude economy field has entered a standardized and regular new stage. This cooperation innovatively opened two cross-border low-altitude routes, achieved breakthrough progress in mutual recognition of qualifications, and launched the first cross-border UAV logistics route. It not only opened a "shortcut" for air connectivity between Shenzhen and Singapore, but also built a new model for cross-border low-altitude collaborative development, injecting strong momentum into China's global layout of the low-altitude economy and the deepening of China-Singapore institutional opening-up.

As a typical representative of new quality productive forces, the low-altitude economy has become a new track for global competition, and cross-border low-altitude collaboration is a key starting point for promoting the high-quality development of this industry. Shenzhen, as the city with the highest density of the low-altitude economy industry in China, has a complete industrial chain covering R&D, manufacturing and application. Qianhai, relying on its geographical advantage as the "strategic southern gateway", has become a core position for innovative practices in the low-altitude economy. Singapore, on the other hand, is a world-class logistics hub in the Asia-Pacific region with leading customs clearance efficiency. It is also actively piloting the 5G-A low-altitude communication network, with a sound low-altitude operation foundation and international perspective. The cooperation between Shenzhen and Singapore this time is an inevitable choice for the two places to complement each other's advantages and adapt to the global trend of low-altitude economic development, and more importantly, it is an important exploration for China to shift from "factor flow-based opening-up" to "rule and standard output".

The opening of routes and the improvement of infrastructure have laid a solid hardware foundation for cross-border low-altitude cooperation between Shenzhen and Singapore. The two Shenzhen-Singapore cross-border low-altitude routes clearly opened this time have a total length of about 600 kilometers and a limited flight altitude of 300-500 meters. They not only avoid interference from traditional civil aviation routes to ensure flight safety, but also realize efficient connection of air corridors between the two places. At the same time, Singapore has planned and constructed 10 cross-border UAV take-off and landing points, forming an extensive and reasonably distributed low-altitude take-off and landing network. Combined with Shenzhen's existing low-altitude infrastructure, it has built a three-dimensional cross-border low-altitude transportation system of "air routes + ground take-off and landing". This system breaks the geographical limitations of traditional cross-border transportation. Compared with traditional air freight, low-altitude routes have more flexible and low-cost advantages, providing a new solution for cross-border logistics, business commuting and other scenarios.

The breakthrough progress in mutual recognition of qualifications has broken the institutional barriers to cross-border low-altitude operations. The memorandum clearly realizes the mutual recognition of qualifications. The low-altitude operation-related qualifications obtained by Chinese enterprises in Shenzhen adopt a "record-and-approve" model in Singapore, reducing the approval time from the original 3 months to 15 days, which greatly lowers the threshold for Chinese low-altitude enterprises to "go global". For a long time, the inconsistent low-altitude qualification standards and cumbersome approval procedures among various countries have been the core bottleneck restricting cross-border low-altitude cooperation. By taking the lead in breaking this barrier, Shenzhen and Singapore have established a standardized and convenient qualification mutual recognition mechanism, which not only opens a "green channel" for Chinese low-altitude enterprises to explore the Southeast Asian market, but also provides a replicable and promotable "Shenzhen-Singapore model" for global cross-border low-altitude qualification mutual recognition. As a leading enterprise in China's low-altitude field, Yingwu Intelligence has taken the lead in benefiting and successfully launched the first cross-border UAV logistics route, becoming a direct embodiment of the policy dividends from the mutual recognition of qualifications.

The take-off of logistics scenarios has quickly demonstrated the effectiveness of cross-border low-altitude cooperation between Shenzhen and Singapore. The first cross-border UAV logistics route launched by Yingwu Intelligence focuses on the transportation of electronic components, reducing the original 2-day transportation time to 6 hours, realizing a new cross-border logistics experience of "same-day delivery". As a global major electronic manufacturing city, Shenzhen has a large number of electronic components that need to be quickly exported to Singapore and other Southeast Asian regions. The launch of low-altitude UAV logistics accurately meets the transportation needs of the electronic industry for "small batches, high timeliness and high added value", which not only reduces the logistics costs of enterprises, but also ensures the efficiency and stability of the supply chain. The successful practice of this scenario has further expanded the application boundary of the low-altitude economy. In the future, relying on low-altitude routes, the two places can gradually expand to more fields such as biomedicine, emergency rescue and cultural tourism, promoting the diversified development of cross-border low-altitude applications.

The signing of the cross-border low-altitude cooperation memorandum between Shenzhen and Singapore this time is not only of great significance to the development of the two places, but also has a profound impact on the globalization of China's low-altitude economy and the deepening of China-Singapore economic and trade cooperation. For Shenzhen, this cooperation will further strengthen its leading position in the low-altitude economy industry, promote more low-altitude enterprises to participate in international competition, and accelerate the innovation and iteration of low-altitude technologies and scenarios. For Singapore, it can leverage Shenzhen's industrial advantages and technological strength to accelerate the layout of the low-altitude economy and enhance its competitiveness in the Asia-Pacific low-altitude economy field. From a broader perspective, the cross-border low-altitude cooperation between Shenzhen and Singapore has built a bridge for low-altitude economic cooperation between China and Southeast Asia, promoting the "going global" of China's low-altitude technologies, standards and enterprises, while attracting Singapore's advanced operation experience and capital inflow to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

With the continuous heating up of the low-altitude economy, the cross-border low-altitude cooperation between Shenzhen and Singapore is expected to usher in broader development space. In the future, relying on this memorandum, the two places can further deepen cooperation in areas such as the densification of low-altitude routes, the upgrading of qualification mutual recognition and the collaboration of technological innovation, expand more application scenarios, and build a cross-border low-altitude collaborative development ecosystem featuring "technological symbiosis, joint standard formulation and benefit sharing". It is believed that with the joint promotion of the two places, this "Air Silk Road" will become a new link for deepening China-Singapore cooperation, helping China's low-altitude economy seize the new global industrial track and add new highlights to institutional opening-up.