MFA Press Statement: Introductory Visit by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs His Excellency Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Kingdom of Thailand, 23 to 24 January 2013

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand Surapong Tovichakchaikul will make his introductory visit to Singapore from 23 to 24 January at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam. During his visit, Deputy Prime Minister Surapong will have a bilateral meeting with and be hosted to lunch by Minister Shanmugam.

Deputy Prime Minister Surapong will also be leading a delegation of 53 Thai officials to participate in the 11th Coordinating Meeting of the Thailand-Singapore Civil Service Exchange Programme (CSEP 11) on 24 January 2013. CSEP is an important platform for officials from both countries to exchange ideas and best practices, as well as explore new areas of collaboration. It currently encompasses 13 cooperation clusters, spanning over 30 agencies from Singapore and Thailand.¹ The theme of this year’s CSEP is “Good Governance in an Increasingly Complex World.”

Deputy Prime Minister Surapong and Minister Shanmugam will co-officiate the opening ceremony of CSEP 11 at the Shangri-La Hotel.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
23 JANUARY 2013
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¹ The 13 clusters are: (i) Civil Service; (ii) Education; (iii) Environmental (formed in 2009); (iv) Health; (v) Information and Communication Technology; (vi) Legal and Judicial; (vii) Manpower; (viii) Media, Arts and Culture; (ix) MFA-to-MFA; (x) Science and Technology; (xi) Social Welfare, Youth and Sports; (xii) Technical Cooperation; and (xiii) Transport. Each cluster is jointly led by the respective Singaporean and Thai agencies.