Non-Resident High Commissioner of Singapore visits Fiji

The ongoing bilateral relations between Fiji and Singapore is expected to develop further through the official visit of the Non-Resident High Commissioner of the Republic of Singapore to Fiji, His Excellency Verghese Mathews to Fiji from Wednesday this week to Tuesday next week.

Mr Mathews earlier this week met with Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Major General (Ret’d) Ioane Naivalurua at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Suva. Mr Mathews said the visit is an opportunity to reachout to the government ministries in Fiji to seek greater engagement with the objective to advance the interests of both the countries.

During the visit, Mr Mathews will be also meeting with the senior government officials and the Non-Government organisation representatives to hold discussions with relevance to strategies and programs to broaden the socioeconomic cooperation between Fiji and Singapore.

Over the past 48 years of establishing diplomatic relations, Fiji has received tremendous assistance from Singapore on both bilateral and regional basis. Since the establishment of the Singapore Cooperation programme (SCP) for more than a decade now, more than 1,000 Fijian officials have benefited from their participation mainly in education and expertise development courses in areas of finance, public administration and economic development programmes.

This has significantly contributed in the progressive changes in the public service delivery and overall improvement in developing human resources.

The existing partnership between Singapore and developing partner countries including Fiji has also been enhanced through the Singapore Cooperation Programme, which provides socioeconomic opportunities in areas of diplomacy, governance, environmental sustainability, health, education and infrastructural development to name a few.