The landmark India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) is India’s first-ever such agreement and the first between Singapore and a South Asian country. It came into effect on 1 August 2005. The first review of the pact was concluded on ...
The Japan–Singapore Economic Arrangement for a New Age Partnership is Singapore’s first free-trade agreement (FTA) with a major trading partner and Japan’s first-ever FTA. It came into effect on 30 November 2002, and the next review of the accord is scheduled to ...
The first productivity promotion campaign was inaugurated on 12 April 1975 by then Minister for Foreign Affairs S. Rajaratnam at Victoria Memorial Hall. As reflected in the slogan “Productivity Is Our Business”, the campaign aimed to instil greater awareness of ...
The Economic Development Board (EDB) is a statutory board established on 1 August 1961 to spearhead Singapore’s industrialisation programme. Presently, the board plans and executes strategies to enhance Singapore’s position as a global business centre, and its ...
Singapore became the 117th member state of the United Nations (UN) on 21 September 1965. This was an important milestone for the country as membership in the UN conferred international recognition of Singapore as a sovereign and independent state. On the occasion, ...
Cecil Clementi (Sir) (b. 1 September 1875, Cawnpore, India–d. 5 April 1947, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom) was Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements as well as High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States from 1930 to 1934. Proficient ...
David Saul Marshall (b. 12 March 1908, Singapore–d. 12 December 1995, Singapore), Singapore’s first elected chief minister from 6 April 1955 to 7 June 1956, was a diplomat, top-notch criminal lawyer, leader of the Labour Front and founder of the Workers’ Party. ...
Sophia Blackmore (b. 18 October 1857, Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia–d. 3 July 1945, Australia) was the first woman missionary sent by the Methodist Women's Foreign Missionary Society to work in Singapore. During her stay in Singapore from 1887 to 1928, she ...
The Singapore League (S.League) is a professional football league and represents the highest level of domestic football competition in Singapore. It was officially launched in 1996 with eight local teams contesting in the inaugural season. The league accepted its ...
Catherine Lim Poh Imm (b. 21 March 1942, Penang, Malaysia–) is the doyenne of Singapore stories. Lim is an accomplished and critically acclaimed author who has published a dozen collections of short stories, five novels, two volumes of poems and even a play. She ...
On 18 July 1967, Britain announced that it would withdraw its troops from Singapore by the mid-1970s. Six months later, the deadline was brought forward to 1971. The sudden pullout of British forces presented serious problems to Singapore’s defence and economic ...
The China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) marks Singapore as the first Asian country to have a comprehensive bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China. This is a major milestone in Singapore’s relationship with China since diplomatic ties were officially ...
The State Development Plan, also referred to as the First Development Plan, was the first official blueprint for the economic development of Singapore after it attained self-government in 1959. Produced by the Ministry of Finance, the plan aimed to solve the pressing ...
On 9 August 1965, Singapore separated from Malaysia to become an independent and sovereign state. The separation was the result of deep political and economic differences between the ruling parties of Singapore and Malaysia. Even before the proclamation of the ...
For much of the early 19th to mid-20th century, technical and vocational education in Singapore was underdeveloped due to the nature of the economy and the colonial government’s noninterference in education. Technical and vocational education gained importance ...
On 16 September 1963, Singapore merged with the Federation of Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo (present-day Sabah) to form the Federation of Malaysia. Since its exclusion from the Malayan Union in 1946, seeking a union with Malaya had been Singapore’s projected ...
In August 1978, then Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee was tasked to lead a study team to identify problems in Singapore’s education system and propose solutions. The government had felt that a thorough review was crucial to align the education system with the ...
The Arabs are a small but significant community in Singapore. During colonial times, the Arabs played prominent economic roles in the regional, retail, wholesale and production trades, the Muslim pilgrimage industry and real estate development. They were also involved ...
Lim Peng Siang (b. 1872, Fujian, China–d. 1944, Singapore) was a Chinese merchant who made significant contributions to Singapore’s economic and social developments in the early 1900s. He was a prominent leader of the Chinese community and held key positions in ...
Chinatown is an estate located largely in the Outram area in the Central Region of Singapore. In his 1822 master Town Plan, Sir Stamford Raffles allocated the whole area west of the Singapore River for a Chinese settlement known as the Chinese Campong (kampong ...