Singapore's representative to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mr Hawazi Daipi, visited the West Bank this week - his first trip to the Palestinian Territories since being appointed last year.
Mr Hawazi met Palestinians who had attended courses in Singapore or made study visits under the enhanced technical assistance package, and hosted a group of recent Singapore Cooperation Programme alumni to dinner, he said on his Facebook page yesterday.
He also met Palestinian Education and Higher Education Minister Sabri Saidam, whom he had earlier met in October when Dr Sabri came to study the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) system. Dr Sabri's ministry is working with an ITE team also on this week's trip to analyse the Palestinians' needs.
Mr Hawazi met General Personnel Council (GPC) Minister Mousa Abu Zaid and Deputy National Economy Minister Manal Ibrahim, who were in Singapore last year for study visits. The GPC plans to showcase Singapore at an upcoming conference on human resource development.
In a separate Facebook post on Thursday, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Mr Hawazi was received at its headquarters by Assistant Foreign Minister for Asia, Africa and Australia Mazen Shamia.
Dr Shamia expressed his appreciation to the Singapore Government for appointing a non-resident representative and thanked the delegation for Singapore's ongoing support to Palestine, such as through training courses for its officials and study visits in a range of areas.
Mr Hawazi reiterated Singapore's support for a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians through direct negotiations between the two sides, the Palestinian ministry added.
He stressed that Singapore is committed to supporting Palestinian capacity-building efforts and said that his meetings with the different ministries gave him a better understanding of their needs.
He also reiterated Singapore's invitation to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to visit Singapore, the Palestinian ministry said.
