Philanthropy Asia Summit 2026 Closing Remarks by Mr Shaun Seow, CEO, PAA

Good afternoon, our guest of honor,

President of the Republic of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam,

Chairman of Temasek Trust, Ms Ho Ching,

Executive Director and CEO of Temasek Trust, Mr Desmond Kuek,

distinguished guests, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen

Thank you for being with us.

This is the final day of the Philanthropy Asia Summit, and I hope our delegates have had a productive time in Singapore. 

It has not gone unnoticed in all our discussions, that philanthropy is at a crossroads.

The maps we have been using are not drawn for the terrain we are now walking.

Prof Yang Bin spoke earlier about what philanthropic collaboration now requires.

Understanding. Legitimacy. Trust.

In a more polarised world, those three things do not arrive on their own.

They have to be built.

That is where philanthropy can play an important role.

Not as a funder alone, but as a convener.

A bridge that can sit in the middle when other actors will not, cannot, or find it difficult to.

The PAA has been building bridges across borders, across seas, across sectors.  

And today, we are building another bridge.

And this is significant.

It is my privilege to announce a new PAA partnership with Tsinghua University

— one that will see our two organisations work together on knowledge exchange, research, and innovation.

Our first collaboration will be organising a convening in China.

We are now putting together plans for a Tsinghua-PAA Impact Summit in Beijing to advance the idea of Collaboration for Good.

With discussions focusing on Leadership, Innovation, and Scale.

More details will be announced soon.

China's culture of innovation is one of its great strengths.

Another is the speed in which it can scale transformative changes, once a decision has been made.

And now, alongside it, a growing momentum in corporate philanthropy is taking shape.

What excites me most about this partnership is that it sits at the intersection of innovation, scale and intentionality.

On recent visits, I have seen how technology in China is bringing down the cost of maternal ultrasounds.

How AI in China is being put to work in the early intervention of neurodivergent children.

How renewables in China are powering homes - affordably and reliably.

Shared challenges call for shared capacity.

Impact can be compounded through mutual sharing, learning and collaboration.

I will say a few words in Chinese to acknowledge our partnership and the strongest Chinese presence yet at the Summit.

At last count, over 30 organisations across the philanthropic, academic, and private sectors.

感谢杨斌教授，也感谢清华大学同事们此次卓越的合作，

给予我们互相学习的机会。

在此也向来自中国的代表团致谢，

尤其我们的PAA成员 SEE Foundation、Fosun Foundation，

和 PAA 战略伙伴 SSVC。

我们不到一年的时间就已经开展了许多学习交流的平台，

向我们共同建立亚洲公益生态的目标有显著的进展。

And to our PAA members and partners from all over the world

We hope to welcome you in Beijing, to continue the conversation we have started here.

Thank you.