TNAG-2752-FCO40-3967-Organisation-for-Economic-Co-operation-and-Development-(OECD-1994 — Page 107

13-JUL-1993 12:34

DEL (UK)

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the Board of Directors of ISIS, told me that he attended the Sydney workshop on taxation last November and he could not contribute because of the technical nature of the discussions. For this reason, he fully recognises the importance The next of having Malaysian government officials participate in the Dialogue. day,

I I raised this matter with Mr. Anwar Ibrahim, the Minister of Finance. indicated

OECD that the

is not "demandeur"

Secretariat thinks but that the

that,

the discussions, Malaysia given the

nature of would more fully benefit from the Dialogue by sending government officials to workshops. He said that, although this is a delicate issue for Malaysia, he understands the difficulties related to present modalities of participation and promised to ask for a review of the Malaysian position on this matter.

Our

Singapore

were

formal

increasingly technical

You might remember that last year, during our mission to Singapore, we told that the Government was considering the possibility of seeking more links with a number of OECD Committees. For this reason, they raised the possibility of sending a small fact finding mission to Paris to learn more about the Organisation and to identify areas where there would be a commonality of interests in a more formal relationship with OECD bodies. Areas mentioned

Such them as examples were telecommunications and maritime transport. fact finding mission was not sent but, following a request from the Singaporean Embassy in Paris, the Secretariat has provided general information Organisation.

by

on the

the

Яe

an

This year, discussions revealed that Singapore is back-tracking from the original intent of establishing more formal links with the Organisation. The explanations given were not fully transparent: it is felt that Singaporean society has not reached the appropriate level of development. left with the general impression that the Government would prefer attitude of "benign neglect" from OECD countries to the increased focus on Singaporean policies which would result from the establishment of more formal links with some OECD Committees. In addition, it seems that Singapore wants to maintain its identity with other ASEAN countries.

were

In contrast, the attitude of the Government of Singapore to the Dialogue continues to be business-like. Officials participate when they see merit in the topics discussed, which is often the case. Otherwise an academic participant attends the Dialogue. Singapore expressed preliminary interest in hosting next year's workshop on "Maritime Transport".

Finally, I would like to inform you that the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told me that Singapore was upset by the fact that that country was dropped from the DAC list without any prior consultation with Singapore.

Taiwan

Taiwanese officiels consider that the Informal Dialogue is very useful. It provides them with a unique forum where they can learn about policy developments in the OECD area and the DNMEȘ, explain their own policies and exchange policy experiences. The papers prepared by the OECD Secretariat are particularly appreciated as they constitute a precious source of information and policy analysis for Taiwanese officials. Since the beginning of the