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S Rajaratnam Endowment to foster international, regional cooperation

SINGAPORE — Come next April, around 200 policymakers, business leaders and prominent thinkers from across Asia will gather in Singapore to discuss issues that impact the region’s development and stability.

SINGAPORE — Come next April, around 200 policymakers, business leaders and prominent thinkers from across Asia will gather in Singapore to discuss issues that impact the region’s development and stability.

The Singapore Forum — a one-day event comprising of three plenary sessions will be the flagship event — for the S Rajaratnam Endowment (SRE), which was launched today (Oct 21) in honour of Singapore’s first foreign minister. Set up by Temasek Holdings, the S$100 million endowment aims to support programmes that foster international and regional cooperation.

First on its lineup will be the Youth Model ASEAN Conference this December, which brings together 200 youth leaders from the ten ASEAN countries over a four-day conference. It aims to provide a platform to research, analyse and discuss new ideas that will impact the trade bloc and to build friendships among youth leaders from the region.

“The next phase of Asia’s growth will see more complex and greater challenges in geopolitics, changing demographics, income disparities and the competitive use of resources…In this regard, the SRE aims to deepen international friendships, promote regional cooperation and foster a greater and common understanding of international rules, based on good governance and sustainability, to achieve development, peace and stability in the region,” said SRE chairman Mr Wong Kan Seng.

Mr Wong added that the launch is timely, as Singapore is now in a “tumultuous era…with profound and momentous shifts of power and ideas underway”. As such, he said, the values that Mr Rajaratnam stood for are even more relevant today.

As the republic’s first and longest-serving foreign minister, Mr Rajaratnam widened Singapore’s international space and developed a professional foreign service well regarded by the international community. In keeping with his internationalist spirit, the Singapore Forum’s advisory board will comprise members in major Asian cities like China, India, Malaysia and South Korea.

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