RISING50 is an amalgamation of "RI" for the Republic of Indonesia and "SING" for Singapore, while 50 refers to the half century of warm and friendly bilateral ties they have enjoyed since 1967. To mark the milestone, a series of activities was organised in Singapore yesterday around the theme of "Trusted Partners, RISING Together".
TREE PLANTING
A "RISING Tree" was planted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Joko Widodo in the Learning Forest at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The sunda oak tree is native to both Singapore and Indonesia.
NEW STAMPS AND BOOK
A joint stamp issue by SingPost and Pos Indonesia features coral reefs of both countries; and a commemorative RISING50 book was launched by the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore.
HISTORIC FLY-PAST
Fighter jets from the air forces of Singapore and Indonesia flew together in a joint fly-past that featured "arrowhead" and "50" formations, in a historic first.
'FOUR-EYE' MEETING
PM Lee and President Joko held a "four-eye" meeting to take stock of bilateral relations as well as discuss how the two countries can deepen cooperation.
NINE MOUs SIGNED
The two leaders witnessed three MOUs signed by Singapore's Education Ministry - on education cooperation with Indonesia's Ministry of Education and Culture; on higher education cooperation with the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education; and on vocational education and training with the Ministry of Industry.
They also witnessed the signing of an MOU on disaster risk management between the Singapore Civil Defence Force and Indonesia's National Disaster Management Authority.
Of the other five MOUs, one was a liquefied natural gas deal between Pavilion Energy, Keppel Offshore and Marine, and Indonesia's state energy firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara.
OTHER UPCOMING PLANS
Singapore will set up a poly- technic in the Kendal Industrial Park joint venture in Semarang to train workers, while PM Lee and President Joko also affirmed both sides' readiness to start negotiations on a new Bilateral Investment Treaty to further strengthen economic cooperation.
