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Global City Connect Appoints Mr. Shanmuga Retnam as Senior Advisor
Global City Connect appoints Singaporean business leader Mr. Shanmuga Retnam as Senior Advisor, strengthening GCC’s city cooperation, investment networks and partnerships across Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
8/14/20262 min read
Global City Connect (GCC) has appointed Mr. Shanmuga Retnam, a veteran Singaporean business leader with extensive experience in urban development, international cooperation and cross-border business, as Senior Advisor to the organization.
The appointment follows a meeting in Hanoi between Mr. Retnam and a GCC delegation led by Executive Chairman Martin Wang and Aruhan Wang, Head of the Compliance Department. The two sides held in-depth discussions on China-Vietnam business cooperation, city-to-city connectivity, investment opportunities and ways to strengthen GCC's cooperation with partners in Vietnam and the wider ASEAN region.
Mr. Retnam brings to GCC decades of experience spanning both the private and public sectors across Asia. He is a founding board member of the Da Nang ASEAN Business Group (DABG) and a Partner of MARA Vietnam, a trade advisory organization promoting local economic development and facilitating trade exchanges within ASEAN.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Retnam served as Vice President, Asia Pacific, for G3 Worldwide, where he managed emerging markets across the Asia-Pacific region. He subsequently worked with the Singapore Prime Minister's Office on initiatives aimed at sharing the country's public-sector capabilities internationally.
Mr. Retnam also played an important role in the development of the World Cities Summit in Singapore. He helped design and deliver the summit and served as co-chairman of a whole-of-government committee, work that earned him a Minister's Award in 2010. The World Cities Summit has since developed into an important international platform for city leaders and urban-development stakeholders.
Since 2011, Mr. Retnam has served as Special Advisor for Indochina to Fundación Metrópoli, a Madrid-based global urban think tank. Based in Vietnam, he has developed extensive experience in cross-border strategies and economic city branding across Indochina.
His recent work has continued to focus on urban development and international cooperation. In 2024, he received a Best Project Award in Hangzhou for the Ecopark Project in Hung Yen Province. In 2025, Messe München, owner of EXPO REAL in Munich, appointed him Advisor for Vietnam for its Asian edition in Singapore in 2026.
GCC believes Mr. Retnam's appointment will further strengthen its network and operational capabilities in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. His extensive experience in city development, cross-border cooperation and business networks is closely aligned with GCC's mission of connecting cities, enterprises and international resources and turning international exchanges into practical cooperation and projects.
During the Hanoi meeting, the two sides discussed opportunities to connect Chinese enterprises with credible partners and projects in Vietnam, while also exploring how GCC's international network can support Vietnamese cities and businesses seeking greater engagement with China and other global markets.
Martin Wang expressed appreciation for Mr. Retnam's friendship, hospitality, valuable introductions and support during the GCC delegation's visit to Vietnam, describing Hanoi as an important stop in GCC's growing engagement with Southeast Asia.
With Mr. Retnam joining GCC as Senior Advisor, the organization looks forward to working closely with him to deepen cooperation among China, Vietnam, Singapore and the broader ASEAN region, while promoting stronger city-to-city connections, investment partnerships and sustainable project development.
About Global City Connect
Global City Connect (GCC) is an international cooperation platform connecting cities, enterprises and global resources. With cities as nodes, projects as the driving force and cooperation as the orientation, GCC works to promote practical international partnerships and facilitate the transformation of dialogue and resource matching into concrete, sustainable projects.