Opening Address by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan at the 15th Coordinating Meeting Of The Singapore-Thailand Civil Service Exchange Programme (CSEP15), 22 October 2025

Good morning Your Excellency Sihasak Phuangketkeow, who is truly an old friend of Singapore. He informed us last night that he was present at the first CSEP – so he is truly a pioneer. I also want to express my deep appreciation to you for taking time off from your enormously hectic schedule to be here, and to make this effort to pay an introductory visit to Singapore. A very warm welcome to you and your delegation, on behalf of the Singapore delegation here.

Ladies and Gentlemen 

  This is the 15^th Coordinating Meeting of the Singapore-Thailand Civil Service Exchange Programme (CSEP). It is especially significant because this year we celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Thailand. I am happy that this is also an occasion for us to meet our old friend, except in a different incarnation as the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand.

2 Singapore and Thailand have had excellent ties, built on a very solid foundation established by our predecessors. Our bilateral cooperation, in fact, extends across a wide range of areas – trade and investments, including in the green and digital economies, to defence. We conduct regular bilateral military exercises.

3 With the establishment of the CSEP in 1998, we stepped up knowledge sharing between our civil services and we enhanced cooperation in important sectors such as healthcare, tourism, education, and the environment. Today, while the global landscape is in a state of flux, the fundamentals of our partnership — mutual trust, complementarity, and a shared practical focus on results and outcomes, remain very strong. We are now looking at the next bound of cooperation and are continuing to seek ways to create value together for our people and for ASEAN.

4 This year’s theme – “Partners in Progress, Shaping a Green and Digital Future” thus aptly focuses on frontier domains. Our PromptPay-PayNow linkage, in fact, was the world’s first cross-border real-time payment system. Another example, the depository receipts tie-up between our stock exchanges, and the launch of the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project are concrete examples of our cooperation that broke new ground when they were initiated.

5 We have made further strides in our green cooperation this year. Just two months ago, Singapore and Thailand signed the Implementation Agreement on Carbon Credits Collaboration under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which is first such partnership in ASEAN. This not only helps to address a key global challenge; it also unlocks opportunities in carbon markets for our businesses. It will serve as a pathfinder for Southeast Asia and it will demonstrate how high-quality carbon credit projects can be developed and scaled up to drive meaningful emissions reduction.

6 The CSEP remains our engine for our bilateral initiatives. We share a collective commitment to harness technology for good, and to build resilient and inclusive digital economies for both our peoples. We must continue to share best practices and cooperate to tackle contemporary challenges. I am glad that the agencies on both sides are currently discussing cooperation in areas such as fighting online scams, adapting to climate change, and ensuring food security. These initiatives, when implemented, will enable our businesses and our people to become more sustainable and seize digital opportunities of the future. I encourage our officials on both sides to build on our excellent track record and continue to look for ways to forge new areas of collaboration.

7 We have strong momentum in our people-to-people ties, and high-level exchanges also undergird our bilateral relationship. Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the National University of Singapore this January for Her Royal Highness’ many contributions to education and to our bilateral relations. Her Royal Highness is a very dear and good friend of Singapore and familiar to so many of our leaders. PM Lawrence Wong made his introductory visit to Thailand in November 2024, and we look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to Singapore for his introductory visit next month. Of course, he himself is also an old friend and familiar to many people in Singapore.

8 Our civil service and military ties obviously remain strong. In fact, I remember officiating at the Officer Cadet Commissioning Parade just last month and we had four cadets from the Royal Thai Armed Forces, including the first lady Thai officer cadet. They were commissioned in Singapore after undergoing arduous training together with our officer cadets. More recently, a group of young Thai diplomats participated in a training programme with our young officers in Singapore’s MFA. I believe such exchanges foster friendships for life and help to build a shared sense of mission. It will plant the seeds for mutual trust and cooperation for the future. We should continue to build and strengthen this common foundation of trust between leaders and our officials. This will bring our relations to greater heights.

9 On that note, let me wish everyone here a most fruitful and productive meeting today. The discussions will certainly help us harness synergies between our civil services, build ties, and to position ourselves better to meet the complex environment we face today. I also want to remind you that beyond the issues and formalities, please make friends, strengthen interpersonal relationships, and build and enrich the reservoir of trust. This is what characterises the relationship between Thailand and Singapore, and it is our duty, your duty, to deepen that reservoir of trust and goodwill.

10 Thank you.

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