MFA Press Statement: Official visit of Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam to the Sultanate of Oman, 18-19 May 2013

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam was hosted to lunch by the Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah and the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Sayyid Badr Bin Hamad Al Busaidi on 18 May 2013.  The leaders reaffirmed the excellent state of bilateral relations and discussed new ways to boost relations to the next level under the Oman-Singapore Enhanced Partnership.

Minister Shanmugam also co-officiated the opening of the Wilayat Mirbat Independent Water and Power Plant (IWPP) with Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar, His Excellency Sayyid Mohammed Bin Sultan Al Busaidi.  In his remarks at the event, Minister Shanmugam highlighted that Singapore valued Oman as a trusted partner in the region.  He added that the success of the IWPP would encourage Singapore’s business community to look for opportunities in Oman and to use Oman as a springboard to the region beyond.  The full text of Minister Shanmugam’s remarks is appended.   

Later this evening, Minister Shanmugam and the Chairman of the Duqm Special Economic Zone Authority His Excellency Yahya Bin Said Al Jabri witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Temasek Polytechnic and the Omani Higher College of Technology on technical education, and a Joint Venture Agreement between Sembcorp Utilities and Takamul Investment Company to build, own and operate centralized utilities facilities at the Duqm Special Economic Zone.

Minister Shanmugam leaves Oman tonight for the UAE.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

19 MAY 2013

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MINISTER K SHANMUGAM’S REMARKS AT THE OPENING OF THE WILAYAT MIRBAT INDEPENDENT WATER AND POWER PLANT

His Excellency Sayyid Mohammed Bin Sultan Al Busaidi, Governor of Dhofar

His Excellency Sayyid Badr Bin Hamood Al Busaidi, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very happy to be back in Oman within a year. The project today, as well as the many things we do between Oman and Singapore is a clear illustration of how our relationship has been transformed over the years.  It has become a strong relationship based on mutual interests, both at the political and strategic level as well as at the economic level. From our perspective we see Oman as a trusted partner and interlocutor; a partner who we naturally engage to understand the region better. Singapore and Oman share many values and perspectives in common - we have small populations – you have 2 million, we have about 3 million.  We believe in optimising our limited human resources to develop our countries. And we both have respective strategic locations on either side of the Indian Ocean. And we ought to have a significant role in terms of the maritime trade and its impact on our respective countries and regions.

Some time ago, we established the Enhanced Partnership to strengthen bilateral cooperation.  We will open a Consulate-General in June and a resident Consul-General will be there.  The Oman-Singapore Enhanced Partnership is anchored on three key pillars.  First, strengthening the institutional bilateral linkages, for example, the Oman-Singapore Joint Committee as well as the Bilateral Consultations that take place between our two Foreign Ministries.  Over the years, there has been an increasing number of high level visits at the ministerial level as well as at the official level.  We have a steady stream of Omani officials who come to Singapore where we share our experiences with them. And we are very happy to do that. That has helped promote closer economic and business linkages.  Our business people also find Oman and Omani partners great to deal with and because we take a transparent approach and have transparent systems.  We are very direct and clear in what we want and how we want to do it.

I think today’s project by Sembcorp at close to US$1 billion testifies to this kind of partnership.  It is good for Sembcorp, it is good for Salalah and Oman.  Again, it is remarkable that today - apart from officiating and taking part in this project - this evening I will be witnessing an MOU between Temasek Polytechnic and the Omani Higher College of Technology on technical education, as well as a further multi-billion dollar project in Duqm, which Sembcorp again is involved in and will be signing a joint venture agreement with Takamul Investment Company.  That is a multi-billion project on an area spread over 1,700 square kilometres, creating thousands of jobs here.  It has the potential to be a centre and a magnet of industrial and commercial development for this entire region.  This place has tremendous potential.  This IWPP project will undoubtedly add value to Oman’s long term plans like Duqm.

Sembcorp has many utilities projects. But this is one of the largest utility projects that they have undertaken globally.  The success of the IWPP will encourage Singapore’s business community to look for opportunities in Oman.  And I think it has to work both ways.  Omani companies must look for opportunities in Singapore and we will help with that.  For Oman’s development at this stage, we will also need to develop Small and Medium Industries Enterprises.  And I think there are tremendous opportunities for both sides to work together.  We hope that Omani companies will ride on Singapore and Singapore’s connectivity to take part in Southeast Asia and Asia’s boom over the next several years.  I am also pleased that beyond business, Sembcorp has actively engaged the local community in building up inter-cultural knowledge alongside economic links.  And that I think is essential for maintaining excellent bilateral partnership. 

I take this opportunity to congratulate the Omani Public Authority for Electricity and Water, as well as Sembcorp for many more years like this, and for the benefit of the people of Oman and for companies like Sembcorp. 

Thank you.