Kuwait and Singapore Deepen Bi-lateral Ties

Marking another milestone in the bilateral ties between Singapore and Kuwait, a Kuwaiti delegation of senior government officials was in town on 16 April 2007 to attend the inaugural Kuwait-Singapore Senior Executive Leadership Roundtable. The four-day Roundtable brought together senior officials from both countries to promote dialogue on e-Government issues and exchange experience in implementing e-Government in the respective countries.

The Kuwait-Singapore Senior Executive Leadership Roundtable brings together senior officials from both countries. [From left] Mr Chan Yeng Kit (CEO, IDA), Mr. Rasheed Y. Al-Tabtabaei (Under-Secretary, Ministry Of Commerce & Industry), Mr. Ali M. Al-Shuraidah, (Director-General, The Central Agency For IT), Mr. Mohammed Ali N Alkandari (Under-Secretary, Ministry Of Social Affairs & Labour), Mr Peter Ho (Head, Civil Service), Mr. Jasem M. A. Al-Omar (Under-Secretary, Ministry Of Education) Mr. Khalifa M. Kh. A. Hamada (Under-Secretary, Ministry Of Finance),Mr. Sultan N.S Bouresli (Under-Secretary, Ministry Of Justice)

The Kuwaiti delegation was headed by Mr. Ali M. Al-Shuraidah, Director-General of the Central Authority for Information Technology (CAIT), and included Undersecretaries (equivalent to Permanent Secretaries) from the Kuwaiti Ministries of Commerce and Industry, Finance, Justice, Education as well as Social Affairs and Labor. CAIT is affiliated with the Kuwaiti Cabinet and was established in 2006 to prepare national plans and policies regarding information technology.

The Roundtable participants discussed topics such as "Leadership in the Public Sector", "Reinventing Government", and "Formulating e-Government Policies" with prominent speakers such as the Head of Civil Service, Mr Peter Ho, Chairman EDB, Mr Lim Siong Guan and Chairman IDA, Mr Lam Chuan Leong. In addition to the roundtable discussions, the Kuwaiti delegation visited several government
agencies to observe Singapore’s e-Government in action.


The Roundtable participants discussed topics such as "Leadership in the Public Sector", "Reinventing Government", and "Formulating e-Government Policies"

Speaking at the opening session of the Roundtable, Mr Peter Ho, Head of Singapore’s Civil Service said, "The digital world presents great potential that allows the government to achieve what was previously inconceivable. Kuwait and Singapore have both recognised the challenges ahead of their public sector in this digital age." Mr Ho has found it beneficial to learn from each country’s experience in reinventing themselves and is confident that the discussions will be of benefit to both governments by providing new insights in administering the public sector.

The Roundtable, organised by the Singapore e-Government Leadership Centre (eGL) and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), was an initiative under the second Kuwait - Singapore MOU on e-Government Co-operation. Under this MOU, Singapore has been serving as an Advisor to Kuwait on Information Technology and e-Government matters, as well as helping to select suitable private sector suppliers to implement projects identified under the e-Government Blueprint. To-date, the IDA has assisted the Kuwait Central Agency for IT in the preparation of Request-For-Proposal (RFP) for 2 projects in Kuwait.