PM Lee Hsien Loong at the official dinner hosted in honour of Myanmar PM General Thein Sein (Mar 2009)

It is my pleasure to warmly welcome Prime Minister General Thein Sein and the Myanmar delegation

Singapore and Myanmar – A Long-standing Friendship

Singapore and Myanmar established diplomatic ties 43 years ago, and we enjoy a long-standing friendship. As we are both Southeast Asian countries, our officials and peoples regularly interact with each other. We cultivate our bilateral ties, and also pursue regional cooperation together as fellow ASEAN members. Under the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), we have trained almost 6,000 Myanmar officials in diverse fields like English language, tourism, information technology, civil aviation and telecommunications. We will continue to provide technical assistance through the SCP as well as the Initiative for ASEAN Integration. 

Besides official exchanges, the modest but growing presence of Myanmar professionals, students and tourists in Singapore has strengthened our people-to-people relations. We should continue to cultivate these links. Tonight, I am particularly pleased to have listened to the delightful performance by two Myanmar music scholars, Saw James Hsar Doe Soe and San Win Htike, from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.

Relief and Recovery Work After Cyclone Nargis

Cyclone Nargis was one of the deadliest ever to hit Asia, and caused one of the worst natural disasters in Myanmar’s history. Your Excellency, as Chairman of the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee, has borne heavy responsibilities in the relief and recovery work. I am glad that the work is progressing, and life in the areas affected by the Cyclone is gradually returning to normal. 

Singapore is happy to have participated in the ASEAN-UN International Pledging Conference held in Yangon on 25 May 2008 which was co-chaired by Your Excellency. This expedited the delivery of international humanitarian assistance to the Ayeyawardy Delta, and averted severe starvation and the outbreak of disease among the cyclone survivors. Singapore will continue to help Myanmar in its post-Nargis recovery work. Where we can, we will also help Myanmar to build up its disaster management capability.

Enhancing Bilateral Relations

Your Excellency’s visit will strengthen our bilateral ties. We should continue to nurture our relationship by exchanging regular visits, growing economic linkages and promoting social and cultural interactions between our peoples.

Our bilateral trade and investment is currently modest. However, there is potential to develop our economic cooperation, for example, in the tourism industry. We should provide a stable environment for businessmen to operate in, and take concrete steps to remove barriers and bureaucratic hassles. In this way, we can enhance investor confidence and encourage the private sector to discover and develop new business opportunities. As we discussed this afternoon, both sides should do the groundwork so that we can convene a fruitful meeting of the Singapore-Myanmar Joint Ministerial Working Committee (JMWC), which last met in 2001.

We should also enhance our cultural relations. Singapore and Myanmar are both multi-ethnic nations, with diverse arts and cultural traditions. Through exchanges of artists and artefacts, and other cooperation, we can enhance people-to-people understanding between our countries. Moreover, Singapore is a global city and can help to showcase Myanmar’s rich heritage to an international audience. Hopefully, this would present a more complete perspective of Myanmar to the world.

Conclusion

As an old friend and neighbour of Myanmar, Singapore wishes Myanmar well and hopes to see Myanmar develop and prosper. The global environment is changing, with a new administration in the US reviewing the global situation, and formulating its priorities and strategies in foreign policy for the next four years. In Europe too, this is a time of reassessment. Countries are grappling with the financial crisis, and asking themselves what is the most effective way to conduct their affairs with other regions. We hope Myanmar will seize this moment to take bolder steps towards national reconciliation and in engaging the international community. Singapore will do what we can, provided Myanmar considers this helpful. We will also cooperate with Myanmar in building a closer ASEAN Community.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would now like to propose a toast to His Excellency Prime Minister General Thein Sein and his delegation and to our continuing friendship and cooperation.