Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs and for Law K Shanmugam and Myanmar Minister for Foreign Affairs U Wunna Maung Lwin signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Singapore-Myanmar Technical Cooperation Programme on 30 January 2012 during the State Visit of President U Thein Sein to Singapore.  The signing of the MOU was witnessed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President U Thein Sein.

Under this Programme, Singapore will provide targeted technical assistance to support Myanmar's development in three broad areas, namely, economic development, human resource development and public administration (Please refer to the Factsheet on the Singapore-Myanmar Technical Cooperation Programme for more details).  In the area of economic development, Singapore will offer training to support the Myanmar government's economic plans and reforms.  This includes training in trade facilitation, finance and tourism development.   On human resource development, Singapore will offer Technical and Vocational Education Training to support Myanmar's efforts to build up its human resource pool and economic base.  We will also offer relevant training courses and briefings to support Myanmar's preparations for its 2014 ASEAN Chairmanship.  In addition, Singapore will organise customised study visits for senior Myanmar officials to Singapore to observe our systems and policies.

The assistance provided under this Programme is on top of Singapore's contributions to Myanmar under the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI). The training provided to Myanmar officials in these areas will also help Myanmar's preparations for its ASEAN Chairmanship in 2014.  The Singapore-Myanmar Technical Cooperation Programme reaffirms the long-standing friendship between the two countries and will help to build people-to-people ties, which are an important pillar of bilateral relations.