Joint Statement: 4th Malaysia-Singapore Bilateral Meeting On Sars

17 Oct 2003

Officials from Singapore and Malaysia met on Friday, 17 October 2003 for the 4th Malaysia-Singapore Bilateral Meeting on SARS. The meeting was a follow-up to the 3rd Malaysia-Singapore Meeting on SARS held in Putrajaya, Malaysia on 11 July 2003.

The Singapore delegation was led by Mr Moses Lee, Permanent Secretary for Health and Mr Tan Guong Ching, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs. The delegation included officials from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport, Immigration and Checkpoint Authority, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

The Malaysian delegation was led by Datuk Haji Alias Ali, Secretary General of the Ministry of Health and Dato' Dr. Haji Shafie Ooyub, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health. The Malaysian delegation included senior officials from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration Department and the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore.

In his opening remarks, the leader of the Singapore delegation noted that this meeting was timely to enable the 2 countries to keep each other abreast of preparations taken in anticipation of a possible resurgence of SARS during the northern winter. The leader of the Malaysian delegation thanked the Singapore delegation for their hospitality and looked forward to strengthen the existing co-operative framework for the control of SARS that has been established between both countries.

Officials from both countries exchanged information on their contingency plans to deal with a possible northern winter resurgence of SARS and agreed that there was a need to remain vigilant. Both sides also reiterated the need for close co-operation and joint action to deal with any future SARS outbreak in accordance with the framework established during the last SARS outbreak for information exchange and protocols at the checkpoints. The Singapore officials also briefed their Malaysian counterparts on the recent laboratory acquired SARS case and the lessons learnt.

The meeting was held in a warm and cordial atmosphere. Both sides were pleased with the outcome of the meeting and looked forward to strengthening bilateral cooperation on SARS. It was agreed that the next meeting will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tentatively in 3 months time. However, if the global SARS situation continues to remain uneventful, the meeting be held in 6 months time, with a view to broaden the scope of the meeting to include collaboration in public health issues other than SARS.