Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s visit to the region began on March 15. - ST
AMMAN: Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will visit the Palestinian territories, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia from March 18 to March 24, as he continues a working visit to the Middle East.
For this coming leg of the trip, he will be accompanied by Ministry of Foreign officials and five MPs - Alex Yam, Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin, Rachel Ong and Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim from the ruling People’s Action Party, and Workers’ Party MP Gerald Giam.
The five MPs were in Amman on March 17, and they joined Singaporeans students in Jordan’s capital for iftar - the meal which breaks the daytime fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan
They also witnessed the presentation of a cheque of $6.1 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the main UN aid agency in Gaza.
The funds were part of a record $8.1 million raised by Singaporean charity Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation in late 2023 to provide aid to communities in the embattled Palestinian enclave.
Dr Balakrishnan’s visit to the region began on March 15, when he made a stop in Doha to meet Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani.
He then proceeded to Amman, where he met his counterpart Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on March 16 and called on Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh on March 17.
Dr Balakrishnan and Senior Minister of State for Defence Zaqy Mohamad also had an audience with King Abdullah II of Jordan at the Royal Palace in Aqaba on March 17 and marked the arrival of Singapore’s third tranche of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza at King Abdullah II Air Base. - The Straits Times/ANN
