Transcript of Doorstop Interview by Jordan TV with Senior Minister Of State for Foreign Affairs Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed at the Asia Middle East Dialogue Regional Vocational Training Centre Official Opening Ceremony in Marka, Jordan on 21 October 2007

Reporter: Can you tell us a little about this centre for training for students and Jordanians?

SMS: Well this is a master project not only for bilateral relations between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Singapore but also a very important step in terms of AMED (Asia-Middle East Dialogue) cooperation. You know AMED is the Asia and Middle East Dialogue. So we are establishing two training centres, one in Jordan, the other in Doha, Qatar, for public administration. We are hoping that through this project we will do a lot more in terms of manpower development because human resource development is one area which AMED can be applied as an area of great concern for development not only in Asia but also in the Middle East. So we are of course encouraged by the support and encouragement given by His Majesty for this project and we hope to see this project as a very important testament of the cooperation that exists between Jordan and Singapore and also in the context of AMED.

Reporter: What does the Singapore government look for when cooperating with Jordan and are there any such projects in the future?

SMS: This is basically under the cooperation of AMED where we do training programmes but in terms of bilateral relations between Jordan and Singapore we have exchanges of visits between leaders and we are also encouraging business people to come down. For example last November when the President visited Jordan, he brought along a business delegation. We are trying to make more Singaporeans to open up to the potentials of Jordan because we know that Jordan has got a very strong emphasis on education and training and this is an area which we also in Singapore pay a lot of attention to.

Reporter: Thank you and good luck.

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