Singapore Ambassador discusses long Myanmar friendship

In an exclusive interview, Ambassador of Singapore Mr Robert Chua discusses Singapore’s long friendship, relationship and trade with Myanmar.

The interview was conducted by Mizzima Editor-in-Chief Soe Myint.

I would like to start with the bilateral relationship. What would you say are the priorities for Singapore’s relationship with Myanmar?

Well I think first and foremost, we regard Myanmar as an old friend and neighbour. We have known each other since the time of Singapore’s self-government in 1959 because many friends in Myanmar said Mr Lee Kuan Yew sent many civil servants to come to then Burma to learn development.  So that is one starting point of our relations and from there, there was a very strong building of relations at the political leaders level. Then of course businessmen from both sides built a relationship and as more Myanmar people came to work and study in Singapore, we had the foundation of people-to-people relations.  My Myanmar friends tell me there are over 100,000 Myanmar people living in my country.  Now the number of Singaporeans living in Myanmar is growing, a few hundred. So with such exchanges, I think this strengthens the relationship between our countries.  People-to-people ties are a very strong element between our countries. I think on our priorities, we will continue to be a good and friendly neighbour to Myanmar and continue to support Myanmar in a practical area where we have learned and benefitted from many developed countries and that is human resource development, capacity building. (Courtesy of Mizzima)