MFA Press Release - Singapore-European Commission Trilateral Cooperation

JOINT PRESS RELEASE

SINGAPORE-EUROPEAN COMMISSION
TRILATERAL COOPERATION

A joint Seminar on Trilateral Cooperation was organized by the Embassy of Singapore and the Delegation of the European Commission (EC) in Vientiane on 9 June 2004. The purpose of this seminar was to establish the base for future cooperation between the EC and Singapore and to discuss the dimensions, operational procedures and potential sectors for programmes to be implemented under this joint initiative in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam.

The initiative for Trilateral Cooperation between Singapore and the EC was formalised by an exchange of letters between Mr Tan Chin Tiong, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore and Messrs Eneko Landaburu, Director-General for External Relations and Giorgio Bonacci, Director-General for EuropeAid at the European Commission in January and February this year.

Mr Pierre Amilhat, Head of the Unit for South East Asia for the European Commission in Brussels, said that the idea of developing "Trilateral Cooperation" in the delivery of EC external assistance in South East Asia was introduced in the Commission Communication "A New Partnership with South East Asia". Trilateral Cooperation, a modality under which the EC and an ASEAN partner country like Singapore would jointly provide technical assistance, is a significant contribution from the EC to ASEAN's own efforts to bridge the development gap between its more developed and less developed member countries. It corresponds to the objective of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) and supports ASEAN's efforts towards closer economic integration.

Mr Robert Chua, Director, Technical Cooperation Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said "The Singapore-EC trilateral cooperation programme is significant as it is the EC's first technical cooperation project with a Southeast Asian country. Singapore is very pleased with the outcome of the EC-Singapore Seminar on Trilateral Cooperation. We are also very pleased about the launch of the inaugural joint training programme on "Credit Skills in Retail Banking" in Vientiane later this year and we look forward to strengthening this partnership with the EC." Speaking at the closing dinner of the Seminar, Miss Karen Tan, Singapore's Ambassador to the Lao PDR added "Such partnerships allow Singapore and the EC to pool their expertise and resources to provide customised training to meet the specific needs of the Lao PDR. This inaugural training programme with the EC demonstrates our strong commitment towards helping the Lao PDR to develop its human resource capacity."

Courses to be launched under the EC trilateral cooperation umbrella for Cambodia, the Lao PDR and Vietnam are conducted within the framework of the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP) - Singapore's technical assistance programme for developing countries. The SCP is founded on the conviction that human resource development is vital for achieving economic and social progress. Since 1992, Singapore has trained officials from the Lao PDR in a wide range of fields such as English language, IT, civil aviation and public administration. The EC has numerous projects in Lao PDR in which capacity building and training programmes represent a significant part of the implemented activities.

The EC and Singapore wish to share their cooperation experience with other developing countries in the region and contribute to their economic growth and progress. Both parties hope that the Trilateral Cooperation initiative will pave the way and be a model for similar cooperation with other ASEAN countries.

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Issued jointly in Vientiane on 9 June 2004 by the Delegation of the European Commission and the Embassy of the Republic of Singapore in Vientiane.

For more information please contact Mr Scott Loh at the Singapore Embassy at (856-21) 416860 or Mr Anousa Kounnavong at the Delegation of the European Commission in Laos at 241 134-6.