Asia, Mideast rediscovering each other

Goh Chok Tong, Singapore

I first visited the Middle East more than 30 years ago. I was then working for our national shipping company. Among the countries I visited was Egypt. I went there before the Suez Canal was reopened. Unfortunately, I lost my luggage. Well, not really lost because my luggage was sent to London instead of Cairo.

Last year, I visited Cairo for the second time. I did not lose my luggage this time.

Cairo was where I hatched the idea of the Asia-Middle East Dialog (AMED). President Hosni Mubarak supported it and encouraged me to proceed with the initiative.

The second time I lost my luggage was again in the Middle East. It happened in 1979 when I led a Singapore business delegation to Baghdad to take part in a trade exhibition. I was then Minister for Trade and Industry. I saw Saddam Hussein but not my luggage. This time it was really lost. Not just mine, but several members of my delegation lost theirs too.

But despite losing my luggage twice in the Middle East, I have never lost my interest in the region.

...I am not an expert on the Middle East. The more I visit the region, the more I realize how little we understand and how much more Singapore has to learn. But what I have experienced has been enlightening and enriching.

The Middle East is very different from East and Southeast Asia. But there are also many similarities.

...We in Asia get most of our information about the Middle East from the western media. I dare say that much of the information on Asia available in the Middle East also comes from the same sources.

Western media looks at the Middle East and Asia through western eyes and measures us by their standards and norms. Generally, they only paint part of the picture about us. And this part tends to be drama and bad news.

...Post-September 11, I sense that the Middle East has become more interested in East Asia. In the last two years, there have been about 40 Ministerial or higher level visits from Middle Eastern countries to Singapore. This is more than double the total number of similar Middle Eastern visits in the preceding 10 years. I am sure other countries in our region have similar experiences.

The rise of China and India will inevitably bring Asia into closer contact with the Middle East. We can no longer interact only at the margins. The destinies of our regions will become more interdependent.

This is not just about oil or energy but also about trade, investment, business, security, tourism and services. Globalization means that changes in our regions will impact on each other in a variety of ways across a broad range of areas.

One of my officials told me that when he visited the Pyramids, he was surprised to hear the Egyptian tourist guides speaking Chinese. When an ulema in Saudi Arabia declared that Pokemon was haram, the share price of its Japanese manufacturer immediately fell.

I recently met a Singaporean garment buyer on board a plane to Amman. She was visiting a garment factory in Jordan owned by her Sri Lankan vendor. She was buying for the American company, GAP. It is this kind of market-driven interlocking interests that will bind our regions ever closer together.

The potential synergies of Asia-Middle East cooperation are tremendous.

Relations between the Middle East and the West have been historically difficult. But there are no deep historical, cultural, religious or ideological barriers preventing better relations between the Middle East and Asia. On the contrary, the links between our regions are ancient; the historical influences on each other profound.

...It is in our interest that the Middle East develops and prospers. It is in the interest of Middle East countries to plug into the Asian grid. It is in our mutual interest to help each other. These are the simple premises on which the Asia-Middle East Dialog is based.

The article is an excerpt of Singapore Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong's address at the opening of the Asia-Middle East Dialog (AMED) held in Singapore.