I think this is a good way Singapore impacts the world
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Home > Latest News > Singapore
Oct 19, 2007
50,000 foreigners gain from S'pore aid scheme
Milestone for body that gives help to developing countries
By Yeo Ghim Lay
MISS Shifana Ali, 23, a Maldivian athlete who set a country record in the Olympic Games, has helped to chalk up a new figure in Singapore.
Here for a course funded by the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), she is its 50,000th participant.
The SCP, an umbrella body formed in 1992 to group Singapore's various technical assistance programmes, gives aid in human resource development to developing countries.
To mark the occasion, Foreign Minister George Yeo presented Miss Shifana an award at a ceremony yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The SCP also has its 15th anniversary this year.
Recalling how the programme started, Mr Yeo said Singapore was fortunate to receive development aid from other countries after independence in 1965.
Without it, Singapore's transition from Third World to First would have been much more difficult, he said.
'Now we are better off, we hope what assistance we can provide to others will be of some use.'
The SCP now trains about 6,000 people every year, and has trained participants from 168 developing countries.
Miss Shifana, an aeronautical information services officer in the Maldives civil aviation department, is here for a course on aeronautical information services. It is conducted by the Singapore Aviation Academy.
She said: 'The programme is very important for developing countries like mine, because we need opportunities to learn.'
The fourth of nine children, she represented the Maldives in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Clocking a time of just over a minute in the heats of the 400m race, she set a new record in her country.
When she returns home next month, she says one thing she wants to do is produce an aeronautical information publication - a manual containing aviation information for pilots flying into the Maldives.
She also intends to encourage her countrymen to apply for SCP training.
As the 50,000th participant in the SCP, Miss Shifana received from Mr Yeo a framed Risis orchid and a copy of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs - From Third World To First, The Singapore Story: 1965-2000.
Noting that the SCP will have to 'evolve to meet changing developmental needs', Mr Yeo said it will focus more on 'transboundary concerns like sustainable development, health-care management, climate change and environmental management'.
The programme will also forge more partnerships, on top of the more than 30 it has with developed countries and international organisations.
'We are committed to doing our part as responsible global citizens. Though we are small, small can be beautiful, or at least this is what we want to believe,' said Mr Yeo.
ghimlay@sph.com.sg
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Singapore/STIStory_168580.html
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Home > Latest News > Singapore
Oct 19, 2007
50,000 foreigners gain from S'pore aid scheme
Milestone for body that gives help to developing countries
By Yeo Ghim Lay
MISS Shifana Ali, 23, a Maldivian athlete who set a country record in the Olympic Games, has helped to chalk up a new figure in Singapore.
Here for a course funded by the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), she is its 50,000th participant.
The SCP, an umbrella body formed in 1992 to group Singapore's various technical assistance programmes, gives aid in human resource development to developing countries.
To mark the occasion, Foreign Minister George Yeo presented Miss Shifana an award at a ceremony yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The SCP also has its 15th anniversary this year.
Recalling how the programme started, Mr Yeo said Singapore was fortunate to receive development aid from other countries after independence in 1965.
Without it, Singapore's transition from Third World to First would have been much more difficult, he said.
'Now we are better off, we hope what assistance we can provide to others will be of some use.'
The SCP now trains about 6,000 people every year, and has trained participants from 168 developing countries.
Miss Shifana, an aeronautical information services officer in the Maldives civil aviation department, is here for a course on aeronautical information services. It is conducted by the Singapore Aviation Academy.
She said: 'The programme is very important for developing countries like mine, because we need opportunities to learn.'
The fourth of nine children, she represented the Maldives in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Clocking a time of just over a minute in the heats of the 400m race, she set a new record in her country.
When she returns home next month, she says one thing she wants to do is produce an aeronautical information publication - a manual containing aviation information for pilots flying into the Maldives.
She also intends to encourage her countrymen to apply for SCP training.
As the 50,000th participant in the SCP, Miss Shifana received from Mr Yeo a framed Risis orchid and a copy of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs - From Third World To First, The Singapore Story: 1965-2000.
Noting that the SCP will have to 'evolve to meet changing developmental needs', Mr Yeo said it will focus more on 'transboundary concerns like sustainable development, health-care management, climate change and environmental management'.
The programme will also forge more partnerships, on top of the more than 30 it has with developed countries and international organisations.
'We are committed to doing our part as responsible global citizens. Though we are small, small can be beautiful, or at least this is what we want to believe,' said Mr Yeo.
ghimlay@sph.com.sg
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Singapore/STIStory_168580.html
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