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SINGAPORE: Singapore Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has said the current economic crisis presents a good opportunity for the Middle East and Asia to grow its relationship.
He was speaking at the inaugural Asia-Middle East Media Roundtable held in Singapore on Thursday.
The idea for the roundtable was announced by Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo at the second Asia-Middle East Dialogue (AMED) Meeting held at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in April 2008.
Mr Goh paved the way for engagement between the Middle East and Asia in 2004 when he was Singapore's Prime Minister.
On hindsight, he said he should have done so five years earlier, having seen for himself the potential the Arab world has to offer.
Today, through forums like the roundtable, Mr Goh noted there is better understanding between both regions.
For example, there are now about 1,000 Singaporeans working and living in Abu Dhabi. Singapore also has a big presence in Qatar within the waste management sector.
But the senior minister added that more could be done to facilitate cultural exchanges to bust stereotypes. One way is to promote tourism.
Mr Goh said: "The West had always been the magnate for relations between Asia and the West and between Middle East and the West.
"All of us were actually looking more to the West for economic relations and of course for political relations and we tended to look at the Middle East mainly as a source of oil for us.
"But it was the wrong attitude, as I've discovered, because in the Middle East we have plenty of opportunities to do business. There's a very rich culture there which we need to try and understand and Middle East has become more important in time to come and so would Asia."
No cameras were allowed to film Thursday's closed-door dialogue session which was meant to be an informal exchange of ideas between Mr Goh and the 30 or so journalists from ASEAN, the Middle East, India and China.
The aim of the session was to encourage better engagement between the people of the Middle East and Asia.
One participant wanted Mr Goh's view on Myanmar and events surrounding detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mr Goh stressed that Myanmar's political situation is a complex one, with the military government also having to deal with ethnic insurgents.
Mr Goh said that national reconciliation in Myanmar meant recognising that the armed forces is also part of the solution and that the army cannot be taken away.
While Ms Suu Kyi is seen by the West as the solution, Mr Goh said that she is also "part of the problem" because she believes she is the government.
He noted that Ms Suu Kyi's political party needs to seek a fresh mandate in the 2010 general election.
"....she should realise that if she wants to come back to be in charge of the next government, then she must find a way to win the next general elections which will be held next year," said Mr Goh.
"She could offer certain concessions. One is to publicly state that she will be in favour of the lifting of sanctions. So long as she is in favour of sanctions, the military government will say, 'in fact, you are using the West to put pressure on the country. How could you as a national, ask for sanctions to be imposed on the people of Myanmar?' So, there'll be no agreement," added Mr Goh.
- CNA/ir
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