QNA
Singapore
THE Emir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani and Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong held official talks at the Istana Presidential Palace in the Singaporean capital on Tuesday.
At the outset of the session, the Singaporean Prime Minister welcomed HH the Emir and the accompanying delegation to Singapore, stressing the depth of the relations between the two countries and his country's keenness to strengthen and develop them in various fields.
In turn, HH the Emir expressed hope that this visit will contribute to the development of relations of cooperation between the two countries and elevate them to wider horizons to serve the common interests in various fields for the benefit of both countries and peoples.
The talks dealt with means to strengthen bilateral cooperation as the two sides reviewed the work of the Qatar-Singapore High-Level Joint Committee.
HH the Emir and the Singaporean Prime Minister stressed the importance of the joint committee as the main pillar of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, which since its formation in 2006, has seen signing of 82 agreements and MoUs in various fields so far.
Furthermore, HH the Emir and the Singaporean Prime Minister agreed on the importance of strengthening this existing cooperation and to establish a mechanism for monitoring the implementation within the framework of the High-level Joint Committee between the two countries in order to ensure the periodic follow-up and implementation of the initiatives in an optimum manner.
Five technical committees will be set up in the ICT, security, business, law and sustainability sectors and will be jointly supervised within the implementation monitoring mechanism. These committees will be chaired by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. The implementation monitoring mechanism will serve as a link between Qatari and Singaporean ministries and entities to work together effectively and closely. The two sides also agreed to hold its first meeting in Doha in 2018.
Talks during the session also dealt with the current regional and international developments.
The session was attended by their excellencies members of the official delegation accompanying HH the Emir and a number of Singaporean ministers and senior officials.
HH the Emir attended a luncheon hosted by the PM of Singapore to honour him and his accompanying delegation at the Fullerton Bay Hotel.
The banquet was attended by a number of Singaporean ministers and senior officials.