MFA Press Statement: Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council on Five-Day Visit to Singapore

His Excellency Abdulrahman Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Secretary General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) and Minister of State in Qatar, will be in Singapore from 6 to 10 June, at the invitation of Minister of State (Trade and Industry) Lee Yi Shyan. He will call on several members of the government including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, and will deliver a public lecture on "The GCC Regional Integration: Challenges and Implications."

The visit is organised jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) under the Middle East Eminent Persons Programme (MEEPP).

HE Abdulrahman Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah has been Secretary General of the GCC since April 2002. He was recently re-appointed for a third 3-year term beginning from April 2008. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. GCC is Singapore's sixth largest trading partner (after Malaysia, United States of America, Greater China, Indonesia, and Japan) in 2006, with bilateral trade totalling $40.3 billion, a 7.4% increase over 2005. Singapore's total investments in the GCC have reached $9.1 billion in 2006. Singapore and the GCC are currently negotiating an FTA.

Mr Barry Desker, Chairman of SIF Board of Governors and Dean of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, explains, "His Excellency Abdulrahman is the fourth Middle East Eminent Person to visit Singapore. As the Secretary General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), he represents the collective interests of the six GCC countries. It is important for Singapore to develop a world-wide network of influential friends and SIF has been actively engaging such visitors since 1992."

The MEEPP, launched by the MFA and SIF early this year, aims to bring distinguished personalities from the Middle East to Singapore to promote mutual understanding and cooperation. Previous MEEPP visitors were Egyptian Minister of Administrative Development, HE Dr Ahmed Darwish, Mayor of Jeddah, HE Adel Fakeih and UAE Minister of State for Federal National Council Affairs, HE Dr Anwar Gargash.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
6 JUNE 2007