HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani yesterday met the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.
They reviewed co-operation relations between the two countries as well as issues of common concern.
In a related context, the Implementation Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) of the Singapore-Qatar High Level Joint Committee (HLJC) held its second meeting in Singapore yesterday.
The meeting was jointly chaired by HE Sheikh Mohamed and Dr Balakrishnan.
In a statement, the two sides stressed the depth of bilateral relations between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Singapore and praised the high level of bilateral co-operation achieved in various sectors.
Both sides welcomed the high-level visits that have taken place in the past period, including the visit by the Singapore Minister of State for Defence Dr Mohamed Maliki bin Osman to Qatar to participate in the 16th Ministerial Meeting of Asia Co-operation Dialogue (ACD) in May 2019, and HE the Minister of Justice and Minister of State for the Council of Ministers Affairs Dr Issa Saad al-Jafali al-Nuaimi, who also visited Singapore to attend the signing ceremony of the Singapore Mediation Convention in August 2019.
The two sides acknowledged the progress made since the first IMM meeting in April 2018, which is a testament to the success of the work and the operational approach directed to the committee in raising partnerships for mutual benefit.
The two dignitaries reviewed the work of the six technical working committees established under the IMM in the fields of ICT, security, business, legal, sustainable development and social development.
The statement added that the fruitful discussions of the senior officials and technical working group meetings resulted in agreement on business co-operation.
The statement pointed out that the fruitful discussions of the senior officials’ meeting and technical working group meetings resulted in agreement on business co-operation, information and communication technology, legal, security, social development, sustainable development and government sector.
The statement added that during the meeting, Qatar Chamber discussed possible areas of co-operation with the Singapore Business Federation.
Qatar Chamber, Enterprise Singapore, and the Singapore Business Federation have all expressed their keenness to organise delegation visits and business activities that will focus on key sectors in Qatar and Singapore, including the oil and gas, information and communications technology, software, financial technology and urban solutions such as city planning, construction, and water and waste management.
The statement pointed out that Qatar Chamber and the Singapore Business Federation also discussed the possibility of forming a joint business council with the renewal of the joint memorandum of understanding, where the MoU and the formation of the Singapore-Qatar bilateral council will be officially signed during the next official meeting between Qatar Chamber and the Singapore Business Federation or during any bilateral event that suits both sides.
The statement said that the two sides discussed ways to enhance co-operation in the information technology aspects such as cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, smart nation initiative, digital transformation, and digital societies.
The two sides welcomed the exchange of visits between the officials in charge of the mentioned fields.
The two sides noted the significant progress made in terms of the work of the legal committee.
The dignitaries witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding yesterday in Singapore.
