RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Singapore have identified education and health as potential areas of cooperation.
“Top Saudi officials will be traveling to Singapore, an island city-state in Southeast Asia, in the near future to explore possibilities to work closely in these sectors,” said Singapore Ambassador Lawrence Anderson.
Anderson, who was speaking on the occasion of Singapore’s national day, said that “Singapore has a lot to offer to the Kingdom within the framework of the Saudi Vision 2030 … With 2017 marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations, there is a great interest to further strengthen Singapore-Saudi ties through various commercial opportunities presented by the Vision 2030 reforms,” he added.
Singapore has “one of the most successful health care systems in the world, in terms of both efficiency in financing, and the results achieved in community health outcomes. Since the 1990s in the field of education, Singapore has consistently been among the top performing countries.” To this end, the diplomat noted that efforts will be made to develop modalities to enhance bilateral relations under the new cooperation plan, especially in learning “best practices” in health and education.
The envoy further pointed out that “science, technology, IT, training and skills development are other potential areas in which the two countries can further cooperate.”
Referring to commercial relations, Anderson said that Saudi Arabia has been Singapore’s second largest trading partner in the Middle East with bilateral trade reaching $10 billion last year. “At the end of 2015, the total number of Saudi companies with their presence in Singapore increased to 45 from 20 in 2006,” he noted.
The envoy, who on 07.10.2016 night hosted a reception for Singaporeans based in Riyadh, said that “the national day event organized by the embassy was a way of bringing the community together.”
Framing his speech under the three themes of “Remembrance, Rejoicing, and Thankfulness,” Anderson said that Singapore was entering a new era with the passing of its first generation of leaders like former President S.R. Nathan and founding father PM Lee Kuan Yew, who had led the country for decades to prosperity.
Anderson reminded the community of the valuable lessons of loyalty, hard work, honesty and respect for family, neighbors and friends, that these pioneer leaders espoused.
On the theme of “rejoicing,” Anderson spoke about how Singaporeans collectively cheered on their athletes Joseph Schooling and Yip Pin Xiu who won gold medals in swimming at this year’s summer Olympics and Paralympics respectively.
He highlighted the challenges that Singapore will have to face in the new era of disruptive technology, economic uncertainty, and the threats posed by terrorism.
He emphasized that the most important criteria to Singapore’s continued success was the importance of preserving its hard-fought unity as a multi-racial and multi-religious country. “If we can all pull together as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, then we can truly look forward to the future with confidence,” Ambassador Anderson said.
The city-state 09.10.2016 is considered a barometer of global economic health owing to its high dependence on external trade. Its foreign trade and capital flows is 407.9% of its GDP.
