Singapore Government Press Release
Media Relations Division, Ministry
of Information, Communications and the Arts,
MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2nd Storey, Singapore 179369
Tel: 6837-9666
SPEECH BY
PRESIDENT S R NATHAN AT THE STATE BANQUET HELD IN HONOUR OF DAME SILVIA
CARTWRIGHT GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF NEW ZEALAND ON 29 JUNE 2005 AT 7.30 PM
Your Excellency, The Honourable Dame Silvia Cartwright,
Governor-General
of New Zealand
Mr
Peter Cartwright
Distinguished
Guests
Ladies
and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Government and
people of Singapore, I am very pleased to
extend to Your Excellency and Mr Peter Cartwright our warmest welcome to Singapore. It is a special privilege and honour for us
to host Your Excellency on your first state visit to Singapore. Your visit reaffirms
the close friendship and bond between our two countries and peoples that have
stood the test of time.
Time and again, New Zealand has come to our support
and contributed to stability and security of the region around us.
Your Excellency’s illustrious career
as a lawyer and jurist, and the rich contributions you have made to New Zealand's society deserve a
special mention. You are a trailblazer,
a true pioneer. You have earned a place
of honour in your country's history by being the first woman to be appointed
Chief District Court Judge and subsequently, the first woman to be appointed to
the High Court.
You have also worked tirelessly to
uplift the status of women and protect women’s rights in New Zealand. Your contributions to
women issues could be felt at the international level as well, as you rendered
distinguished service from 1993 to 2000 as a member of the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women, an international committee that
was set up to monitor compliance with the UN Convention to Eliminate Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW). It is not only in law and women's issues that
you have made your mark. Your contributions to the discourse on
multiculturalism, education and human rights in New Zealand are also
significant.
All these have made Your Excellency
a role model and an inspiration to women not only within New Zealand, but without as well.
Your Excellency
Since the establishment of
diplomatic relations 40 years ago, Singapore-New Zealand relations have grown
from strength to strength. Our
relationship is today founded upon a dense network of linkages in the
political, economic, defence and the arts and culture fields. In particular, I
must mention the valuable contributions that New Zealand Forces made towards Singapore in the early years of
our independence. The close relations
between our Armed Forces continue to this day.
There is a special level of warmth and
closeness between our two countries that is evident in the candour of our
exchanges and the ease with which we relate to each other. This is perhaps not surprising considering
the many similarities we share. First,
we are both small island nations that are dependent on an open global
economy. Second, we have come to
realise that to overcome the constraints of our size, we need to capitalise on
our unique strengths, build up our capabilities and enhance our connectivity
through the establishment of strategic partnerships and strong commitment to
regional and inter-regional co-operation.
Third, the cornerstones of our development strategy are the
ingenuity, resourcefulness and the entrepreneurship of our people and, in that
regard, like New Zealand we place a high premium
on human resource development, education and training.
It is these similarities that make Singapore and New Zealand a natural partner for
each other.
We in Singapore have been monitoring
with admiration how New Zealand has succeeded in
remaking herself to meet the challenges in a more competitive world. New Zealand today has a vibrant and
dynamic knowledge-based economy. The runaway commercial and critical success of
the Lord of the Rings trilogy has
entrenched New Zealand's position as a global
powerhouse for creativity and innovation. Like New Zealand, Singapore is also striving to
build a knowledge-based economy, leveraging on our infrastructure and our
strengths as a communications, financial and research centre. There are therefore
considerable synergies between Singapore and New Zealand that could be harnessed
for mutual benefit.
The conclusion of the Agreement between New Zealand and Singapore on a
Closer Economic Partnership (ANZSCEP) or CEP for short, which came into effect
on 1
January 2001, was a major milestone in
bilateral relations. The CEP has the
distinction of being the first bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) for Singapore and has
underpinned the economic partnership between our two countries. The announcement of the conclusion of the
Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (Trans-Pacific SEP), at the
sidelines of the APEC Ministerial Meeting earlier this month in Jeju, is yet another milestone. It is significant not only because it
injected further impetus to our bilateral economic links, but also because of
its positive demonstrative effect at the wider regional level. With the Trans-Pacific SEP - the first plurilateral FTA linking Asia, the
Pacific and Latin
America - Singapore and
New Zealand, together
with Brunei and Chile, will set
the pace in hastening progress towards global trade liberalisation.
Your Excellency
Tomorrow morning, Your Excellency
will be visiting the Kranji War Memorial and later,
the Headquarters of the Singapore Artillery.
This reminds us all that our defence relations pre-date our diplomatic
relations. As a committed member of the
Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA), New Zealand has contributed
significantly to the stability and security of the region. The armed forces of our two countries also
have a well-established working relationship both at the bilateral and
multilateral level. New Zealand was forthcoming whenever
we sought to use your training areas for our military exercises. In 2001, for
instance, an SAF platoon operated as part of the New Zealand Battalion in the
peacekeeping effort in Timor Leste. Now, New Zealand continues to provide
valuable training facilities for the SAF, which we deeply appreciate.
In tandem with the steady growth of
our economic and defence ties, our bilateral contacts in the fields of
education, sports and the arts, have also expanded in recent times. A number of New Zealand universities, such as Lincoln University, are conducting
off-shore programmes in Singapore. Recently, Singapore’s Sports School and the Auckland
University of Technology have agreed to conduct regular exchanges and work
attachments. Last year, during the New
Zealand International Arts Festival in 2004 in Wellington, the people of New Zealand were given an
opportunity to get better acquainted with a number of artists and artistic and
cultural groups from Singapore.
This year, thanks to the highly
successful New Zealand Festival last month, Singapore was given a special
treat and a chance to enjoy New Zealand's creativity in film and
fashion, as well as sample its fine cuisine and world-class wines. The
wonderfully unique World of WearableArt (WOW)
showcase in Singapore, one of the highlights
of the New Zealand Festival, was quite simply, a triumph.
Your Excellency
Given the convergence of our
strategic outlook, New Zealand and Singapore have cooperated closely
in regional and international fora such as the ARF,
APEC, FEALAC, WTO and UN. This year also
marks the 30th anniversary of the New Zealand-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership. Singapore has long considered New Zealand to be part of the region
and welcomes New Zealand’s interest and involvement in Asia. We look forward to a
greater involvement of New Zealand in developing and
revitalising regional architectures for co-operation in the coming years.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I invite you to join me in a toast
to:
Her Majesty, the Queen of New Zealand;
continuing progress and prosperity
for New Zealand and her people; and
the enduring friendship
between our two countries.