The Singapore Public Service and National Development

NEWS RELEASE BY THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
(UNDP)
A CUTTING EDGE PUBLIC SERVICE HAS BEEN KEY TO THE NATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT AND SUCCESS OF SINGAPORE SINCE ITS INDEPENDENCE
Book emphasises the replicable lessons that developing and developed countries
alike can learn from Singapore but also highlights the challenges faced by the
nation.
Singapore, 24 March 2011 — “Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and
National Development” is a literary journey of the highly regarded Public Service of
Singapore starting from the state’s independence. The book analyses the policies,
institutions and incentives that have led to its many contributions to national
development.
Mr. Peter Ong, Head of Singapore’s Civil Service and Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry of Finance launched the book with Mr. Kamal Malhotra, United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore
and Brunei Darussalam, and Dr N.C. Saxena, the book’s main author. The launch was
attended by Ambassadors and other members of the diplomatic community,
government officials, United Nations agencies, corporate guests and the media.
The publication, commissioned by UNDP and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and the Civil Service College, Singapore, highlights the lessons and best practices on
governance and service delivery from Singapore’s Public Service experience, and
analyses the links and positive multipliers between the quality of the country’s Public
Service and its national development, a subject which has generally remained relatively
unexplored both analytically and in the public policy research literature. The Singapore
experience suggests that there have been virtuous cycles between the Public Service
and national development in multiple realms.
On the Singapore story, its Head of Civil Service and Permanent Secretary (Finance),
Mr Peter Ong, said,
“The Public Service has had, and will continue to have, its fair share of
challenges. Some of the issues that we grapple with are not entirely dissimilar to
those faced by other countries. We do not presume to have all the answers, and
indeed some of the answers that have worked for us may well not be suitable for
others. But we hope that this book will be a meaningful contribution to the global
conversation on how the Public Service can best serve its people.”
After the book launch, Dr Saxena delivered a presentation on the book. The
presentation was followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Saxena, Dr Neo Boon Siong of
the Nanyang Business School, Dr Adrian Leftwich, Honorary Fellow in the Department
of Politics, University of York, United Kingdom and moderated by Mr. Malhotra.

News Release – “Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development”
Page-2
Mr. Kamal Malhotra, UNDP Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and
Brunei said,
“This book both addresses the issues which make Singapore’s Public Service
effective and seeks to explain why. What were and are the policy choices that
Singapore made and continues to make, the institutional arrangements and
incentives it has put in place, and the investment decisions that have allowed
Singapore to become an island of excellence in the area of the management and
delivery of public services? How has it created an enabling environment that
empowers Public Service institutions to cope with and manage change? How
has the capacity of the civil service been developed and enhanced to keep it at
the cutting edge?
Finally, and perhaps most importantly from the perspective of UNDP, what are
the replicable lessons that developing and developed countries alike can learn
from Singapore? This book also seeks to analyse how Singapore’s government
institutions have coped with change in the context of fast accelerating
globalisation. This should enable an understanding of how Singapore’s policies,
institutions and incentives can be adapted to different country contexts. The book
also elaborates on some of the challenges facing the Singapore Public Service
going forward.”
The book consists of six chapters that cover key issues such as a history of the state’s
formative years, key national policies, building institutions for clean and effective
governance, public sector capacity development and reforms, challenges facing the
Public Service and key lessons that other countries can learn from Singapore. It ends
with a chapter on the Singapore Cooperation Programme, which explains how
Singapore actively shares its knowledge and experiences with friends from the
developing countries.
On the need for the Singapore Public Service to constantly reinvent itself, Mr Ong said,
“The problems that face Singapore today are complex and we remain vulnerable
to changes brought about by global events.
Our officers need to collaborate across agencies as well as consider new and
innovative ways of tackling problems. This requires an integrated and adaptable
Public Service. We need officers willing to take some risks in policy design and
implementation.
As Singapore develops and Singaporeans become more global in orientation, the
demands on the public sector will change. The public sector needs to embrace
the ideas and energy that lie beyond the Public Service. By tapping on the
collective wisdom and creativity of individuals, NGOs and companies, we can

News Release – “Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development”
Page-3
better tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities in a more complex and
volatile external environment.”
Although Singapore has ongoing programmes to correct strategic, policy-level and
organisational deficiencies, the book highlights that policy makers have also identified
other important challenges that the Public Service has been facing in recent years,
among them, employing, training and retaining Public Service leaders and officers with
the right skill sets and aptitude; engaging and catering to the changing needs and rising
aspirations of the population; meritocracy and income inequality, and dealing with
increasingly uncertain, complex and cross-cutting policy issues.
The success of the Public Service can be attributed to reforms to capitalise on
institutionalised outcomes such as assigning operational authority to delegated Boards
and autonomous agencies, while retaining the power of regulatory oversight and policy
direction within central agencies; budgetary reforms to maximise the public sector value
proposition; instilling a culture of ownership, pride and continuous improvement in the
Public Service, through on-going training as well as reform movements such as PS21;
measuring and rewarding organisational performance, with incentives and awards for
innovative practices; continuous innovation, such as the use of information technology,
to engender greater efficiency, citizen satisfaction, timely information flows and
transparency and a culture of leadership by example, which transmits strong values and
principles of good governance socially rather than formally throughout the public sector.
Mr. Malhotra concluded,
“As UNDP, we are particularly pleased with this opportunity to examine this
specific inspiring example of development achievement because of the early
significant role played by UNDP and other UN agencies in Singapore’s history.
As you will learn when you read the book, one of the first acts of the new
government when Singapore attained self-rule in 1959 was to request advice
from the United Nations Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance (UN-
EPTA), which would later become UNDP, to develop a blueprint for an
industrialization programme for Singapore. Dr Albert Winsemius, a Dutch
economist, led the first UN assessment mission to Singapore in 1960 which
presented a ten-year development plan to transform Singapore into a centre of
manufacturing and industrialization to the government, most of which was
implemented with considerable success.
In the following decades, UNDP together with other UN agencies such as the
FAO, ILO, ITU, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNCTAD, WHO as well as the World Bank,
would provide technical expertise in areas ranging from urban planning,
agriculture and fisheries, manufacturing, transportation and communication, to
education, health and government reform. This was indeed a good example of
effective development cooperation, which should stand as an example to the
international development community.”
* * *

News Release – “Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development”
Page-4
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News Release – “Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development”
Page-5
For queries, please contact:
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Overview
“VIRTUOUS CYCLES: THE SINGAPORE PUBLIC SERVICE AND
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT”
FACT SHEET
“Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development”
addresses what makes the Singapore public sector effective and why. The book
examines the fundamental challenges governments must confront, how public sector
institutions may go about approaching these challenges, and how they may be
successfully applied in a range of different contexts.
United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Collaboration with
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Civil Service College (CSC)
The concept of the book originated from UNDP after it commissioned a study on
Singapore's Public Sector Governance in 2009, with the view that a book could yield
insights of value to other public administrations around the world.
Dr N.C. Saxena, a veteran public servant from India, was engaged to carry out the
research and to author the book Virtuous Cycles.
Sharing UNDP’s belief that such a book could contribute to the global conversation
on governance, Singapore supported UNDP’s efforts through MFA and CSC. MFA
provided funding for the publication and CSC assisted by hosting Dr Saxena’s study
visits and by facilitating meetings with relevant agencies for his research.
Mr Peter Ong, Singapore’s Head of Civil Service, contributed the foreword of the
book while Mr Kamal Malhotra, the UNDP Resident Representative for Malaysia,
Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, contributed the book preface.

OPENING ADDRESS BY MR PETER ONG,
HEAD, CIVIL SERVICE AND
PERMANENT SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF FINANCE
AT THE LAUNCH EVENT OF THE UNDP BOOK
VIRTUOUS CYCLES: THE SINGAPORE PUBLIC SERVICE AND NATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
THURSDAY, 24 MARCH 2011
AT THE CIVIL SERVICE COLLEGE AUDITORIUM
Mr Kamal Malhotra, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident
Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei
Dr Naresh Saxena,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. Good morning. First and foremost, let me extend a warm welcome to Mr
Kamal Malhotra, and Dr Saxena, the author of the book that the UNDP is launching
today.
UNDP and Singapore
2. The UNDP and Singapore have a warm relationship which dates back more
than five decades. In 1960, the Dutch economist Dr Albert Winsemius led a UN
Industrial Survey Mission to Singapore to assess our potential for industrialisation.
He was also asked to provide inputs for Singapore’s economic masterplan. Dr
Winsemius was subsequently appointed as an economic adviser to Singapore, a
role he kept for more than two decades till 1984. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, in
his memoirs, credited the UNDP and its precursor organisation for seeding the idea
of Singapore leapfrogging our region and becoming a hub for manufacturing and
industrialisation. As a result, we embarked on an export-oriented industrialisation
1

path and developed an environment attractive to foreign investment, establishing
many new industries that created jobs for our growing population.
3. Having benefited from the generous provision of foreign technical assistance
over the years, we have been privileged to share our developmental experience with
countries around the world since the 1960s. For example, we provide technical
assistance through the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP) administered by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We have shared with more than 70,000 officials from
170 countries Singapore's approach to public administration, economic
development, and urban planning, among other areas.
4. Singapore and the UNDP have also co-operated closely in the area of
promoting good governance. Several training programmes, developed jointly by the
UNDP and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and involving many other Singapore
agencies, have been institutionalised on this and related topics. Under the
Singapore-UNDP Technical Cooperation for Developing Countries (TCDC)
framework that was established in 1992, about 1,200 government officials from 86
developing countries have participated in 89 joint training programmes covering
diverse fields, ranging from civil aviation management to foreign investment
promotion.
Good Governance
5. The UNDP has an interest in promoting good governance in both developing
and developed countries. Indeed, good governance is critical to the success of any
country, and requires capable and committed men and women at all rungs of
government.
6. One key message in the book that we are launching today, Virtuous Cycles:
The Singapore Public Service and National Development, is that good governance
2

was an important ingredient in Singapore’s development experience and in our
success thus far.
7. As our first priority, we had to eradicate that which is antithetical to good
governance, specifically corruption. Singapore did this with strong political will,
credible legislation and effective enforcement. At the same time, we built up
institutional and human resource capacity building to ensure that our model of
governance is forward-looking. PS21, or our Public Service in the 21 st century
initiative, sought to build up a public service that was proactive rather than reactive.
It tapped on the creativity of public servants and exhorted them to be responsive
and to serve with excellence. We also invested heavily in building our anticipatory
capacity, from our early efforts in scenario planning to the more recent setting up of
the Centre for Strategic Futures: all these are aimed at developing public service
capabilities in preparing for the future, in order to better address emerging strategic
challenges and opportunities.
8. While all these served us well, we cannot be complacent. Good governance
requires that we constantly seek out ways to improve ourselves, upgrade our
capabilities and better serve the needs of the people.
9. The public sector could achieve greater outcomes by focusing on improving
the quality of its relationship with the public. This goes beyond delivering public
services in a timely and efficient manner. We can do more by investing in greater
consultation and engagement with the public, as well as by involving the public more
in public policy making and implementation. This will engender a greater sense of
ownership by the public over issues that are close to their hearts. This consultative
and collaborative approach will be more time consuming and requires greater effort
to forge consensus. This is the trade-off that we must balance.
10. As Singaporeans become more affluent and global in orientation, the
demands on the public sector will change. The public sector needs to embrace the
3

ideas and energy that lie beyond the public service. By tapping on the collective
wisdom and creativity of individuals, NGOs and companies, we can better tackle the
challenges and seize the opportunities in a more complex and volatile environment.
11. A good example is NParks’ Communities in Bloom social initiative that
encourages communities to come together to beautify their surroundings. NParks
provides advice and some basic gardening materials to help residents start their
community gardens. Thereafter, the residents organise themselves to keep their
gardens going, developing a community spirit that binds residents together. In taking
on the role of facilitator and encouraging the public to work with each other, the
public sector helps to build social capital and makes Singapore more socially
resilient.
Virtuous Cycles
12. When the UNDP commissioned Dr Saxena to write a book on Singapore’s
Public Sector Governance in 2009, with the idea that it could yield insights of value
to other public administrations around the world, we were honoured to be able to
share the Singapore experience. Dr Saxena has done a good job highlighting the
development and best practices of the Singapore Public Service and the insights
that may be gleaned from our development experience. At the same time, this
outside-in look at the Singapore public sector also provides us with some pointers
on areas where we can do better. Like Singapore, every country has its own unique
challenges and constraints, and we need to constantly review what good
governance means, and to reflect on how the public sector can work more
effectively to build a strong society and thriving economy.
13. I would like to express my appreciation to everyone who was involved in this
project: the UNDP for its vision and guidance in seeing this work to fruition, Dr
Saxena’s diligent research, as well as the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
4

Civil Service College, and numerous other government agencies for facilitating this
work.
14. This book marks a new milestone in our on-going cooperation with the UNDP
in promoting good governance across the globe. It is also a reflection of the strong
ties between Singapore and the UNDP. I hope the book will provoke deep thought
and discussion among the public policy community of thinkers and practitioners. I
also hope that we can build on the partnership in this book into new areas of
cooperation in public governance. To this end, I wish the book every success.
15. Thank you very much.
5

Book Launch
“Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National
Development”
Opening Remarks
Kamal Malhotra
UNDP Resident Representative
for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam
March 24, 2011
Auditorium, Civil Service College
Singapore
Street Address: Wisma UN, Block C, Kompleks Pejabat Damansara, Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights, 50490 Kuala
Lumpur
Telephone: 2095 9158 Facsimile: 2095 2870 E-mail: registry.my@undp.org URL: http://www.undp.org.my
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 12544, 50782 Kuala Lumpur

Mr. Peter Ong, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Head of the Civil
Service, Singapore
Ms. Lim Soo Hoon, Permanent Secretary, Public Service Division, Prime Minister’s
Office
Mr Bilahari Kausikan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
H.E Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-At-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Mr. Lionel Yeo, Dean and Chief Executive Officer, Civil Service College and
Deputy Secretary (Development), Public Service Division, Prime Minister’s Office
Mr. Koh Tin Fook, Director, Technical Cooperation Directorate, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
Dr. N. C. Saxena, lead author
Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners, members of the Diplomatic
Corps
Panelists, Distinguished Guests, members of the media, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great privilege to join you here today for the official launch of “Virtuous
Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development”.
UNDP is very pleased to have this opportunity to present this critical analysis on
the important role played by the Singapore public service in this country’s
remarkable development experience since it gained independence in the 1960s 1 .
The decision by UNDP to commission this study was a result of discussions I first
1
Singapore attained self-rule in 1959, and gained independence in 1965.
2

had in 2009 with senior Singaporean officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
Civil Service College and the Public Service Division of the Prime Minister’s Office.
These discussions focused on how we could collaborate and bring a better
understanding of Singapore’s public service governance experience to the wider
world. I would like to thank Tin Fook, Donald Low and Yee Ping Yi for their
support. I would also like to extend a special thanks to my UNDP colleagues,
especially Lena Sinha, Dipa Bagai and Anisa Muzzafar as well as the members of
the excellent team drawn from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Public Service
Division of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Civil Service College’s Centre for
Governance and Leadership who have worked exceedingly hard to make this
publication a reality and this launch a success.
I am also very pleased that the author of this report, Dr Naresh C. Saxena was
able to join us here today. Dr Saxena has had a long and distinguished career in
the Indian Administrative Service and is currently serving as a member of India’s
National Advisory Council, which is chaired by Ms Sonia Gandhi. Dr Saxena will
present the book and will then join in a panel discussion and Q&A with Prof. Neo
Boon Siong of the Nanyang Technological University here in Singapore and Prof
Adrian Leftwich from York University in the United Kingdom.
I would also like to thank our colleagues at the UNDP Special Unit for South-South
Cooperation in New York, and the UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok for their
important contributions to this publication.
Singapore, as we all know, is an example of remarkable development success.
From the early 1960s, Singapore moved steadily from a poor city state, with a
modest economy based on entrepot trade, few natural resources, high
unemployment, labour unrest and political tension, to today’s highly globalised
economy with one of the highest GDP’s per capita in the world. And today, as the
book states, “Modern Singapore,…..is a model of efficiency”, and admired by
many policy makers around the world.
3

Singapore’s early leaders, led by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, set out to
transform the fledgling economy and establish a clean, competent and effective
government to implement its policies. The state and its bureaucracy would take a
leading role in enhancing economic growth, generating employment, fostering
industralisation, financing private investment, building infrastructure, and delivering
services to the people.
At the heart of this development experience, which Dr Saxena has so aptly
distilled, is the important role played by the public service in translating the vision
of the political leadership into actual development outcomes for its people. As the
book points out, “Good governance is not only about policy. It is also dependent
on the implementation of that policy. For that, a powerful, honest, and efficient civil
service is critical”.
UNDP is pleased to be able to help provide through this publication a wider
understanding of Singapore’s development experience, and to highlight the
important role played by the public service as well as the positive multipliers this
has led to.
The book addresses both the issues which make Singapore’s public service
effective and seeks to explain why. It also seeks to address the following important
questions: what were and are the policy choices that Singapore made and
continues to make, the institutional arrangements and incentives it has put in
place, and the investment decisions that have allowed Singapore to become an
island of excellence in the management and delivery of public services?
How has it created an enabling environment that empowers public service
institutions to cope with and manage change? How has the capacity of the civil
service been developed and enhanced to keep it at the cutting edge? And finally,
and perhaps most importantly from the perspective of UNDP, what are the
replicable lessons that developing and developed countries alike can learn from
Singapore?
4

The book also elaborates on some of the important challenges facing the
Singapore public service going forward.
Singapore’s early generation of leaders realized that in order to translate their
vision for rapid social and economic development into reality, an effective civil
service based on integrity, meritocracy and results-orientation would be required. It
was recognized that improving the performance of the public sector could not be
accomplished over night, but rather would require a comprehensive reform effort
over a long period of time. And when new challenges or demands arose, a
willingness to reexamine existing systems and practices and adjust accordingly
would be necessary.
A well-performing public service requires strong systems of control – to root out
and prevent corruption and ensure accountability in the exercise of delegated
authority and the use of public funds – and effective means of managing
performance – to achieve better results and improve decision making at all levels.
This analysis of the Singapore public service provides an overview of some of the
reforms undertaken by the Singapore public service to put in place effective
systems of control and management, and also highlights some of the challenges
that need to be addressed. And in so doing, it provides some valuable lessons for
policy makers from around the world seeking to strengthen public service
performance and accountability in their respective public services.
While Chapter 5 elaborates the many challenges that remain, Chapter 6 of the
book outlines a number of valuable lessons that other countries can draw from the
Singapore experience. Importantly, these are lessons that will be useful to both
developing and developed countries around the world.
Dr Saxena will speak in more detail about the Singapore public service story as
well as some of the challenges it still faces in addition to the lessons to be drawn
from his examination of the Singapore public service experience. And though we
5

all understand that one country’s success can never be replicated in full, unique as
it is to the particular historical, geographic, economic, demographic and political
context of that country, a better understanding of both Singapore’s successes and
challenges can indeed prove helpful to leaders in other countries seeking to
institute public service reforms.
I would like to highlight just a few of the main findings and conclusions of this
study.
1. The importance of the operational culture. The Singapore story clearly
demonstrates that strong, competent and honest political and public service
leadership engenders, inspires and motivates similar positive behaviour across the
public service.
2. Recognizing that good systems are not built in a day. The Singapore
Public Service has taken a comprehensive approach to development, over a long
period of time.
3. The sequencing of reforms matter. In the case of Singapore, the crucial
first step was to reduce corruption by implementing comprehensive anti-corruption
measures, so that the provision of public services would not be dependent on a
person’s ability to bribe. Singapore’s anti-corruption strategy followed the classic
prescription of raising the potential costs and lowering the potential benefits of
engaging in corrupt behaviour. It is worth noting, however, that corruption was
largely controlled by the end of the 1970s, whereas substantial improvements in
salaries and working conditions would only be possible in the 1980s. In other
words, corruption was brought under control well before salaries were increased
which suggest that the success achieved by Singapore in controlling corruption
can be replicated in countries that are not able to immediately raise public service
salaries.
6

4. Recognizing that people matter. The Government has consciously followed
a policy aimed at cultivating public servants. It has understood the importance of
training, of providing officers with challenging assignments, of inspiring them to
show results; all aimed at ensuring that the best talent is nurtured to drive the
country forward.
5. A pragmatic approach to decentralization, to strengthening institutional
capacity to deliver results. Singapore’s approach to decentralization in the public
sector was to create Autonomous Agencies, and then transfer almost all authority
for recruitment, promotion and expenditure to them. They are given a block
budget, and held accountable for mandated outcomes.
6. Results-based budgeting. The Programme and Performance Budgeting
System introduced in Singapore as early as 1978 allowed ministries to focus on
longer- term results rather than year-to- year expenditure objectives. The purpose
of these budgetary reforms was to make managers more invested in the actual
results of their public programmes, in terms of quantity, quality and social impact,
while also ensuring more efficient use of resources.
7. E-Governance. Singapore has established itself as a leading practitioner of
e-governance and seen clear results in terms of improved productivity, greater
transparency and accountability, improvements in the quality of services, and thus
client satisfaction. ICT also helps the public service disseminate certain types of
information and receive valuable feedback quickly and transparently.
These are just some of the lessons that can be learned from the Singapore public
service experience. Dr Saxena will discuss these and other lessons in more detail.
As with all social, political and institutional systems, Singapore’s public service has
received some criticisms. It will need to continuously respond to the changing
needs and aspirations of the people and to evolve in order to meet new and
increasing complex challenges, and perhaps even to reinvigorate principles such
7

as equity. Increasing competition for talent in a globalizing world will require further
improvements in human resource management in order to ensure that the public
service continues to be able to attract and retain the talent and skills necessary to
effectively design and implement policies in a more demanding environment.
There is also a need for greater diversification in the public service, and some
commentators have noted the risk of overdependence on a homogenous public
service elite which is unable to adapt to new and increasingly complex challenges
in the future.
Greater openness and a holistic approach to governance will also be essential to
ensuring continued effectiveness of the public service, and equally important must
be to temper any sense of elitism or arrogance which may arise. Likewise, the
emphasis on meritocracy and self-reliance must be tempered with the realization
that success often depends on factors other than individual merit, and that people
can be systematically excluded because of their race, gender, sexuality, age and /
or class.
Overall, however, the Singapore experience suggests that there have been
virtuous cycles between the public service and national development in multiple
realms and that this positive dynamic will, in all probability, continue in the future if
the challenges identified in the book are effectively dealt with.
As UNDP, we are particularly pleased with this opportunity to examine this
inspiring example of development achievement because of the early significant
role played by UNDP and other UN agencies in Singapore’s history. As you will
learn when you read the book, one of the first acts of the new government when
Singapore attained self-rule in 1959 was to request advice from the United Nations
Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance (UN-EPTA), which would later
become UNDP, to develop a blueprint for an industrialization programme for
Singapore. Dr Albert Winsemius, a Dutch economist, led the first UN assessment
mission to Singapore in 1960 which presented a ten-year development plan to
8

transform Singapore into a centre of manufacturing and industrialization to the
government, most of which was implemented with considerable success.
In the following decades, UNDP together with other UN agencies such as the
FAO, ILO, ITU, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNCTAD, WHO as well as the World Bank,
would provide technical expertise in areas ranging from urban planning, agriculture
and fisheries, manufacturing, transportation and communication, to education,
health and government reform. This was indeed a good example of effective
development cooperation, which should stand as an example to the international
development community.
Today, Singapore has come full circle and is now sharing its development
experience with other developing countries through the Singapore Cooperation
Programme, with an emphasis on institution and human resource capacity
building.
I would like to once again thank all those who have been involved in the different
phases of this important publication. I am committed to ensuring that we find
effective means of globally sharing and disseminating the lessons learned from
Singapore’s experience in public service governance - because as I have already
indicated, it has important pointers for all countries, be they developed or
developing.
Thank you.
9