<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Nov 2, 2008
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>President Nathan visits Kuwait <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Goh Chin Lian
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->PRESIDENT S R Nathan will arrive in Kuwait on Monday for a four-day State visit.
He will witness the signing of three agreements on Tuesday between Singapore and Kuwait, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement yesterday. One is an open skies agreement that frees airlines of both sides to operate any number of air services between their countries, and beyond.
The current agreement, inked in 2003, restricts each country to 14 flights a week.
The second is a Memorandum of Understanding on co-operation in e-government, between the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and its Kuwaiti counterpart, the Central Agency for Information Technology.
This will be the IDA's third such pact with Kuwait to provide consultancy services on e-government projects to the Kuwaiti government.
As in the earlier two pacts, signed in 2004 and 2005, it is expected to give opportunities for Singapore information technology companies to sell their expertise to the oil-rich country.
The third agreement establishes a joint committee for co-operation between both governments.
It gives their foreign affairs ministries a platform to promote cooperation in a wide variety of areas, such as trade and investment, energy, culture, science and information, the MFA statement said.
These agreements are slated to boost existing relations.
Kuwait is Singapore's second-largest trading partner in the Gulf after Saudi Arabia, with total trade amounting to S$8 billion last year.
Key exports to Kuwait include iron pipes and fittings, and civil enginring equipment parts. Singapore buys mainly oil products and crude oil from Kuwait, which has 10 per cent of the world's reserves.
Nearly half of Kuwait's Gross Domestic Product and 95 per cent of its export revenues come from oil. The money is spent on, apart from infrastructure, a welfare system that includes free medical services for its 1 million citizen.
President Nathan, who is making his first State visit to the Gulf region, is in Kuwait at the invitation of its ruler Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who visited Singapore in July 2004.
Besides meeting Amir Sheikh Sabah, President Nathan will also meet senior Kuwaiti leaders including Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who was in Singapore in June last year. Accompanying President Nathan on the visit are Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim, Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zainul Abidin Rasheed and MPs Irene Ng and Fatimah Lateef.
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>President Nathan visits Kuwait <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Goh Chin Lian
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->PRESIDENT S R Nathan will arrive in Kuwait on Monday for a four-day State visit.
He will witness the signing of three agreements on Tuesday between Singapore and Kuwait, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement yesterday. One is an open skies agreement that frees airlines of both sides to operate any number of air services between their countries, and beyond.
The current agreement, inked in 2003, restricts each country to 14 flights a week.
The second is a Memorandum of Understanding on co-operation in e-government, between the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and its Kuwaiti counterpart, the Central Agency for Information Technology.
This will be the IDA's third such pact with Kuwait to provide consultancy services on e-government projects to the Kuwaiti government.
As in the earlier two pacts, signed in 2004 and 2005, it is expected to give opportunities for Singapore information technology companies to sell their expertise to the oil-rich country.
The third agreement establishes a joint committee for co-operation between both governments.
It gives their foreign affairs ministries a platform to promote cooperation in a wide variety of areas, such as trade and investment, energy, culture, science and information, the MFA statement said.
These agreements are slated to boost existing relations.
Kuwait is Singapore's second-largest trading partner in the Gulf after Saudi Arabia, with total trade amounting to S$8 billion last year.
Key exports to Kuwait include iron pipes and fittings, and civil enginring equipment parts. Singapore buys mainly oil products and crude oil from Kuwait, which has 10 per cent of the world's reserves.
Nearly half of Kuwait's Gross Domestic Product and 95 per cent of its export revenues come from oil. The money is spent on, apart from infrastructure, a welfare system that includes free medical services for its 1 million citizen.
President Nathan, who is making his first State visit to the Gulf region, is in Kuwait at the invitation of its ruler Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who visited Singapore in July 2004.
Besides meeting Amir Sheikh Sabah, President Nathan will also meet senior Kuwaiti leaders including Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who was in Singapore in June last year. Accompanying President Nathan on the visit are Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim, Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zainul Abidin Rasheed and MPs Irene Ng and Fatimah Lateef.
