Singapore to tailor courses in emerging fields for African officials

Singapore will tailor training for government officials from African countries on emerging issues like sustainability and digitalisation, as part of a new initiative to strengthen technical assistance to the continent, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.

The three-year Singapore-Africa Partnership Package will also offer scholarships for senior African officials to study in Singapore universities, and provide priority placement for African officials in courses under the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), he added.

More than 137,000 officials from 180 countries have attended courses and workshops under the SCP, which was set up in 1992 to bring together Singapore's technical assistance efforts and marks its 30th anniversary this year.

"We will customise courses in priority areas for Africa. These will cover emerging issues such as on climate change and sustainability, and digitalisation and smart cities," said PM Lee at a joint press conference with Rwandan President Paul Kagame after they met.

"Singapore is encouraging our people and businesses to venture into new markets in Africa. We are also happy to share our experience in economic development, human resources development, and capacity building with others," he added.

The SCP has been well received by officials from African countries and over 12,000 of them, including many from Rwanda, have attended its courses, he said.

The two leaders held meetings at the Urugwiro Village in the Rwandan capital Kigali, and reaffirmed the excellent state of Singapore-Rwanda relations and discussed areas for further collaboration.

"Despite the challenges of Covid-19, our two countries continue to cooperate actively. Our people-to-people ties have remained strong. Leaders and officials have kept up the tempo of engagements," said PM Lee. "Both the President and I are committed to advancing our bilateral partnership. We have established good collaboration, including making new initiatives on the digital economy, fintech and even judicial cooperation."

Both countries have strong collaboration on the multilateral front and at the United Nations, said PM Lee, who noted both are members of the Forum of Small States, and work closely to advance the interests of small states and strengthen the multilateral system.

PM Lee attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Kigali last week and, earlier yesterday, visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which honours victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and laid a wreath.

Congratulating President Kaga-me for a successful Chogm, PM Lee said he was glad the summit created an opportunity for him to meet counterparts in Africa, to exchange views and perspectives, and learn more about Rwanda.

While Singapore might be geographically far away, it has many friends in Africa, he added, noting that some of the leaders he met at Chogm still recall founding PM Lee Kuan Yew's first visit to their countries over 50 years ago. "I'm very grateful for this reservoir of goodwill in Africa towards Singapore."

Interactions have grown and cooperation between Africa and Singapore has increased, with regular visits between leaders, he noted. Singaporeans working in Rwanda see the promise in its society and Singapore companies are also venturing into Africa, he added.

"There are many bright spots in Africa and Rwanda is one of the brightest. Singapore looks forward to deepening our cooperation, and increasing trade and investment between Singapore and Rwanda."

President Kagame said the two countries will be "doing even more together in the years ahead". He cited trade, education, technology, climate change and healthcare as areas for deeper collaboration.

PM Lee said he looked forward to working with President Kagame to ensure ties continue to grow. "Although we are on different continents, our two countries have much in common," he said. "Both are small countries, with limited resources. Both place importance on international cooperation to improve our societies and our peoples' lives. Both seek to work with other small countries to secure peace, progress and prosperity for our peoples in a dangerous world."