MFA Press Statement: Appointment Of Singapore’s Ambassador To The Kingdom Of Belgium, 17 April 2012

The Government has appointed Mr Ong Eng Chuan as Singapore’s next Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium (with concurrent accreditation to the European Union and the Kingdom of Netherlands). He will assume post in Brussels on 30 April 2012.

Mr Ong joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994. He has spent a large part of his career managing Singapore’s relations with Northeast Asian countries. Mr Ong was posted twice to the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo. He has also served in the Singapore Embassy in Washington and was the Special Assistant to then Foreign Minister S Jayakumar in 2003. Mr Ong’s most recent appointment was Director/Northeast Asia from January 2009 to February 2012.

Mr Ong graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in 1993 under the Japanese Government Monbusho Scholarship. He was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship and obtained a Master of Arts in International Policy Studies from the Stanford University, USA, in 2002. Mr Ong was also a Pritzker International Fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2002.

Mr Ong is married to Mdm Esther Phua Boon See and they have a daughter.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
17 APRIL 2012

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BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY

Mr Ong Eng Chuan was Acting Director and subsequently Director of the Northeast Asia Directorate in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from January 2009 to February 2012.

Born in Singapore on 2 February 1968, Mr Ong graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in 1993 under the Japanese Government Monbusho Scholarship. He was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship and obtained a Master of Arts in International Policy Studies from the Stanford University, USA, in 2002. Mr Ong was also a Pritzker International Fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2002.

Mr Ong joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994. He spent two years as Country Officer for Japan and Korea before being appointed as First Secretary in the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo in 1996. Mr Ong returned to Singapore in 2000 to head the China and Japan/Korea Desks. He was later appointed as Special Assistant to then Foreign Minister S Jayakumar in 2003. Mr Ong was assigned as Counsellor in the Singapore Embassy in Washington from 2004 to 2005. He was subsequently cross-posted to Japan in 2005 and served as Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission in the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo until December 2008.

Mr Ong is married to Mdm Esther Phua Boon See and they have a daughter.

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APRIL 2012