MFA Press Statement: Caribbean Community (CARICOM) High-Level Ministerial Exchange Visit In Singapore 15 To 19 July 2013

Minister K Shanmugam together with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) High-Level Ministerial Exchange Visit delegation at the opening ceremony on 15 July 2013 (Photo: MFA) First Row [L to R]: Minister of Finance, the Economy and Public Administration of Antigua and Barbuda Harold Lovell, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of Bahamas Frederick A Mitchell, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkilfi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago Winston Dookeran, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community Irwin LaRocque, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados Maxine McClean, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belize Wilfred Peter Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Business of Grenada Nickolas Steele. 2nd Row [L to R]: Deputy Secretary for Foreign Affairs Simon Wong, Minister of Trade and Industry of Suriname Raymond Sapoen, Minister for External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation of Saint Lucia Alva Baptiste, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs BG (NS) Chee Wee Kiong, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Jamaica Paul Robotham, Singapore Plenipotentiary Representative to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Kemal Siddique, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Deputy Secretary for Foreign Affairs Tan Eng Beng.
 

        At the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam, Ministers and senior officials from 10 Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago) and the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are in Singapore to participate in the CARICOM High-Level Ministerial Exchange Visit from 15 to 19 July 2013.  A list of the Ministers and Senior Officials are at Annex.

        In his speech at the welcome ceremony of the CARICOM High-Level Ministerial Exchange Visit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today, Minister Shanmugam highlighted the growing economic and political ties between Singapore and the Caribbean, and how our closer engagement with CARICOM countries have been invaluable in finding common ground and shared interests on bilateral and global issues.  Minister Shanmugam also launched an Enhanced Technical Assistance Package to boost Singapore’s ongoing development exchanges with CARICOM Member States.  To-date, more than 1,300 Caribbean officials have already participated in the Singapore Cooperation Programme in areas such as public administration, economic and urban development, information and communications technology, and climate change.

         Prior to the welcome ceremony, Minister Shanmugam also signed an Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, Her Excellency Maxine McClean. 

         As part of this inaugural exchange visit that Singapore has organised for Ministers from the CARICOM, the Secretary-General, Ministers and their accompanying senior officials will be attending a customised programme and be briefed by various Ministries and government agencies on Singapore’s development experience in areas such as economic development, aviation and maritime management, e-government, urban development, and water supply and waste management.  The CARICOM Ministers will be making a joint courtesy call on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong later in the week, and will also meet with various Singapore Ministers. 

      .         .         .         .         .

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Singapore

15 July 2013

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Annex

CARICOM HIGH-LEVEL MINISTERIAL EXCHANGE VISIT 15 TO 19 JULY 2013

List of Ministers and Senior Officials attending

Antigua and Barbuda

His Excellency Harold Lovell

Minister of Finance, the Economy and Public Administration

Her Excellency Joanne Massiah

Minister of State, Ministry of Legal Affairs

The Bahamas

His Excellency Frederick A. Mitchell

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration

Barbados

Her Excellency Maxine McClean

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade

Mr Charles Burnett

Permanent Secretary (Foreign Affairs)

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade

Belize

His Excellency Wilfred Peter Elrington

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Mr Alexis Rosado

CEO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Grenada

His Excellency Nickolas Steele

Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Business

Guyana

Her Excellency Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Jamaica

Mr Paul Robotham

Permanent Secretary

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade

Saint Lucia

His Excellency Alva Baptiste

Minister for External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation

Suriname

His Excellency Raymond Sapoen

Minister of Trade and Industry

Mr Michiel Raafenberg

Deputy Permanent Secretary for Geopolitical Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Trinidad and Tobago

His Excellency Winston Dookeran

Minister of Foreign Affairs

CARICOM Secretariat

His Excellency Irwin LaRocque

CARICOM Secretary-General

His Excellency Colin Granderson

Assistant Secretary-General (Foreign and Community Relations)

CARICOM Secretariat

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SPEECH BY MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND MINISTER FOR LAW K SHANMUGAM AT THE WELCOME CEREMONY OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM) HIGH-LEVEL MINISTERIAL EXCHANGE VISIT IN SINGAPORE, AT THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, ON MONDAY 15 JULY 2013, 1100 HRS

Excellencies

Distinguished guests

Friends and colleagues

1.                 A very good morning, and an especially warm welcome to Singapore and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to our friends from the Caribbean Community who are here for this High-Level Ministerial Exchange Visit. 

Our Shared Heritage

2.                 Your strong presence here today is a testament to how far the friendship between the Caribbean and Singapore has grown since 1971, when Trinidad and Tobago became the first Caribbean country to establish diplomatic relations with Singapore.  

3.                 The foundation of our close partnerships today has been built upon the many common traits that Singapore and CARICOM Member States share.

o              In particular, we share a colonial heritage.

o              And as former colonies, we struggled for self-government, independence and development in a similar time frame.

o              Another characteristic which Singapore and the Caribbean Community share is a multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-religious society.

o              Our rich ethnic diversity is something we are proud of, and a strength which we continually build upon. 

4.                 But what most unites us all is our small size.

o              This pushes us to be innovative - given the constraints of our geography and population size. 

o              However, what we lack in size and natural endowment, we make up through our firm commitment in maximising our most valuable asset – human resource.

5.                 The Caribbean Community has its prestigious University of the West Indies, which is committed towards providing opportunities for higher education for your people. 

o              It represents the CARICOM’s thirst for constant research and development in order to advance and upgrade your citizens’ well-being. 

6.                 Singapore’s educational ethos emphasises these same values. 

o              We encourage lifelong learning – to upgrade the skills and knowledge of our workers, whether they are low-skilled, or working in a higher-end sector.

o              This constant upgrading provides more opportunities for all.

o              This is vital as we respond to the increasing demand for knowledge workers, and nurture an entrepreneurial and innovative culture.

 Convergence of Interests

7.                 Due to our small size, we are ultimately “price-takers”.

o              We have to be nimble enough to adapt to the constant external shifts and global economic forces that are often beyond our control.

o              However, we have found strength in numbers by being united in international fora such as the UN.

o              Our long engagement and close association with CARICOM Member States have proven invaluable in finding common ground and shared interests on a wide range of issues – from climate change and human rights, through to maritime and aviation issues.

o              Working together has given us a bigger and louder voice collectively, and helped us amplify our own perspectives on global issues.  

8.                 It is for these reasons that Singapore established the Forum of Small States (FOSS) in New York in 1992, and initiated the Global Governance Group (3G) in 2009. 

o              Like many CARICOM states, we are also active members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). 

o              These groupings provide the common space for small states to share their experiences and strategies for development, and to exchange views on issues concerning global governance.

o              Given Singapore’s similar interests with many of the CARICOM Member States, we are grateful to have the opportunity to interact and work with many of you through these fora.

 Progress in Relations

9.                 Having worked closely together and met regularly in various multilateral fora, we felt that it was timely for Singapore to deepen our relations with the CARICOM, both as a grouping and with its individual member states. 

o              This is why we appointed Ambassador Kemal Siddique as Singapore’s first Plenipotentiary Representative to the CARICOM last year. 

o              We are appreciative that the CARICOM Secretariat and its member states had accepted his appointment so quickly and readily, and welcomed him so warmly in his two visits in the past year after he presented his credentials to the CARICOM on 14 March 2012.

10.             After all, bilateral trade between Singapore and the CARICOM has been increasing steadily –

o              growing by 30 percent over the past three years from S$2.4 billion to S$3.1 billion.

o              The CARICOM is now Singapore’s 33^rd biggest trading partner. 

o              Our companies are collaborating on projects ranging from energy to ICT.  

o              For example, IDA-International is working in both Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas to design their respective government’s e-services system and infrastructure development plan. 

11.             Investments from the CARICOM into Singapore are also growing, and reached almost $23 billion in 2011, with the largest sources coming from the Bahamas, Barbados and Belize.

12.             To facilitate even stronger economic ties, just this morning I signed an Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) with Barbados’ Foreign Minister Maxine McClean. 

o              This agreement like the many similar agreements we have with other CARICOM countries, help to facilitate greater trade and investment opportunities between our two regions, and further enhance linkages between our business communities and our people.

Enhanced Technical Assistance Package

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

13.             We want to do more to strengthen people-to-people relations and institutional linkages. 

o              Under the Singapore Cooperation Programme, or SCP, we have welcomed more than 1,300 Caribbean officials to attend training courses or study visits in subjects of interest to them; These include:

• public administration;

• economic development;

• civil aviation;

• urban planning;

• ICT; and climate change among others.

14.             To build on this inaugural Ministerial Exchange Visit, and to further deepen our engagement with the Caribbean Community, I am happy to announce this morning an Enhanced SCP Package for CARICOM Member States.

15.             This three-year enhanced package aims to boost Singapore’s ongoing development exchanges with the Caribbean Community in the following ways:

o              First, we hope to welcome more senior officials from CARICOM Member States to Singapore for customised training courses and study visits.

o              Second, CARICOM officials will be given priority in all our SCP training courses.  

o              Third, we will award a limited number of post-graduate scholarships for CARICOM officials who gained admission into our local universities.

16.             Our officials are also exploring how we can enhance our partnership with the CARICOM Secretariat to jointly organise capacity-building programmes for CARICOM Member States in subjects that are most helpful to their development such as:

• Public Administration;

• e-Government;

• economic development;

• urban development; and

• climate change.

o              We plan to roll out a few pilot programmes with the CARICOM Secretariat in the coming months.

o              We hope that these new initiatives will encourage a greater exchange of ideas and knowledge among our officials, and foster a better understanding of our respective cultures and heritage between our people.

Conclusion

17.             Once again, I would like to thank all of our distinguished guests from the Caribbean for taking the time out of their busy schedules to visit Singapore, some of you for the very first time.

18.             I believe that your visit affords us the opportunity to exchange views on how we can continue to collaborate bilaterally, between our two regions, and in multilateral platforms. 

19.             Over the next five days, we have arranged for you to meet with the Prime Minister and various other Ministers and heads of government agencies to give you a better appreciation of Singapore –

o              the road we took to get to where we are today, and where we intend to be over the coming years.

20.             We also want to learn from your own experiences.

o              We look forward to picking up new ideas and insights from all of you as we attempt to solve the myriad challenges of developmental, social, economic, technical and environmental issues, that we all face in today’s fast-paced, and inter-connected globalised world.

21.             I wish you a fruitful and pleasant stay in Singapore.

22.             Thank you.

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