Conceived in 1997 by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and his then Thai counterpart General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, the Singapore Thailand Civil Service Exchange Programme (CSEP) was to foster closer ties between senior civil servants from both countries.

At the opening session of the Fourth Coordinating Meeting of the CSEP, held in Bangkok, Thailand in Nov 2001, Singapore’s Foreign Minister Prof S Jayakumar noted: "The evolving economic and political landscape makes it more pressing for Singapore and Thailand to strengthen our bilateral cooperation." Potential areas for "win-win" cooperation ranged from the arts to cutting-edge technologies.

For instance, Singapore could apply its bio-technology investments in Thailand’s strong agricultural base. Conversely, Thai companies strong in art and design could join forces with Singaporean firms to help gain the "winning edge" in exports.

His Thai counterpart, Mr Surakiart Sathirathai, agreed. "Thailand is enriched with ancient tradition and culture while Singapore is modern and enchanting with diversity in its people." The two, he added, could serve as a showcase to the world of the unique cultures of South-east Asia.

At the end of the meeting, both countries agreed on a broad-based approach to boost cooperation in trade, tourism and education, as well as in such non-economic areas as culture and social welfare. Altogether, 17 areas of collaboration were identified including expanding direct Internet links between telecommunication authorities, joint tourism promotion, productivity training and land transport management.

An International Seminar on the Japanese Koban (Community Police Station) System and the Singapore Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) System, was held in both Singapore and Japan in Sept-Oct 2001 under the auspices of the Japan-Singapore Partnership Programme (JSPP21).

Policemen from 15 countries learn from each other at the seminar on community policing.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Roland Lim from the Singapore Police Force was among 24 participating senior officials from 15 countries all of whom are closely involved in policy making on patrols or community policing. The purpose of the programme was to provide the participants with an opportunity to better understand the Koban and NPC systems as concepts of community policing and and how they enhanced community safety and security.

DSP Lim said of the experience: "We learnt that a lot of the challenges and problems the Japanese police face are similar to ours. For instance, both police forces are especially concerned over the issue of juvenile delinquency, ways they could win the respect of the community which they serve, and ways of keeping officers motivated and to prevent them from burning out."

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Adrian Quek, who was one of the coordinators of the programme, also added that the programme helped to enhance the networking of the various law enforcement agencies which to him was "extremely important" in view of the increasing incidence of transnational and cross-border crimes.

Apart from neighbourhood policing, the JSSP21, a Third Country Training Programme (TCTP) under the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), covers a whole range of other fields such as productivity, trade promotion, civil aviation, environmental management and information technology. Under the programme, Singapore and Japan pool resources and expertise to share their development experience with developing countries in Asia-Pacific and Africa. Since the JSPP21 was launched in May 1997, 536 participants from 54 countries have attended 38 courses conducted in Singapore and Japan.

The terrorist attacks of Sep 11 in New York and Washington, D.C. and the ensuing war in Afghanistan prompted many Singaporeans as they followed what happened daily in the media, to respond to appeals for humanitarian assistance to alleviate the Afghan people’s suffering.