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Politi@2 MAY 1990er Hong Kong
DESK OFFICER SEAD
INDEX
PA
RY
Jakti.
HONG KONG IMMIGRATION
1.
I called on Mrs Lee Chin Neo (Director, Public Service Division, Ministry of Finance) today, to follow up your call on BG Yeo on 22 January.
2.
I explained that the main purpose of my cal1 was to open up a
channel of communications at official level to ensure that both we and the Singaporeans knew what the other side was doing. BG Yeo had welcomed this when you called on him. Mrs Lee said that she was happy to help in any way she could.
3. I asked about the Committee chaired by BG Yeo which was looking at Hong Kong immigration issues. Mrs Lee said that this was the Immigration Affairs Committee (IMAC). In addition to BG Yeo (Minister of State for Finance and Foreign Affairs), the Committee comprised:
Dr Lee Boon Yang, Senior Minister of State, Home Affairs
and National Development;
Dr Tay Eng Soon, Minister of State, Education;
Mah Bow Tan, Minister of State, Trade & Industry and
Communications & Information;
Sidek Saniff, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry
of Education;
Chandra Das MP, Chairman of Government Parliamentary
Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs;
Dr Aline Wong MP.
The Committee was formed in August 1989. Its main purpose is to consider way of attracting and retaining talented and qualified people to and in Singapore. It operates at the policy level, giving general policy direction to the work of other bodies involved in immigration/emigration questions. The Secretary of the Committee is Dr Andrew Chew, Permanent Secretary (Special Duties) in the Prime Minister's Office and Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Division of the Ministry of Finance.
4. Andrew Chew also chairs the Committee on Attracting Talent to Singapore (CATS). Comprised mainly of Permanent Secretaries from the interested Government departments, this Committee was the forerunner of IMAC and its policy functions have been largely subsumed by the latter. Chew is also Director of the Professional Immigration and Placement Service (PIPS), the executive arm of CATS, which deals with the practicalities of attracting talent from overseas. One of its main activities is to organise tours of university campusses abroad, attempting to attract
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