Singapore firm wins deal to sell Obama portrait

A Singapore investment firm has clinched an exclusive deal to sell a painting of United States President Barack Obama.

Estimated to be worth a few million dollars, the portrait in oil was done by renowned African-American artist Gilbert Young last year.

It is said to be the only portrait that the President has endorsed with his signature.

Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong receives top jurist award

CJ Chan Sek Keong has become the first Asian jurist to be given the 2009 International Jurists Award by the International Council of Jurists (ICJ).

ICJ President Adish Aggarwala said the award, given out annually since 2007 is a recognition of CJ Chan's outstanding contributions to the administration of justice and that his achievement has enhanced the dignity of the judiciary in Asian countries.

CJ Chan received the award from Indian President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi last Saturday, at a two-day conference on International Terrorism and the Rule of Law.

The ICJ, which has a London-registered office, convened the meeting, which drew more than 3,000 delegates from about 60 countries.

Source: The Straits Times (November 26, 2009)

Singapore on IMO Council for 9th term

Singapore has been re-elected to the council of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for a ninth term.

The election was held at the 26th session of the IMO Assembly in London last Friday.

Singapore was first elected to the council in 1993 and has been re-elected at subsequent biennial assemblies.

Source: The Sunday Times (November 29, 2009)

Singapore 5th easiest place to pay taxes

Singapore has maintained the same ranking as last year in the latest survey of 183 economies by the World Bank Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The top four economies are the Maldives, Qatar, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the economic downturn, governments have generally remained focused on tax reform.

For Singapore, the report noted that it was during the 1990s, when the Asian financial crisis struck, that the Republic bit the bullet and undertook reforms to combat the economic downturn.

Singapore lowered business costs through a series of tax cuts, rebates and exemptions introduced over the course of the crisis.

Singapore comes second on media access to government info

Singapore has come out second in a global study on how accessible information is to the media.

Topping the list is Australia, with the maximum score of 120 points while Singapore chalked up 115, according to the study by the Austria-based International Press Institute (IPI).

The pilot project, done in June, required media organisations to ask their governments a set of six questions.

The countries were awarded points based on how quickly the officials responded, with the maximum 20 points given for an answer that arrived within three hours of the query.

The score decreased gradually over time, with 2.5 points given to a response that took more than two days. A reply after one week was not counted.

Points were deducted for incomplete answers, while full marks were given if the information was publicly available.

Britain came in at No. 6, followed by United States.

The IPI is a global network of editors, media executives and journalists dedicated to press freedom, free flow of information, and the improvement of practices of journalism.

Shenzhen wants to be clean, just like Singapore

The Chinese city of Shenzhen has chosen Singapore to be its guiding light in environmental improvements, particularly public sanitation, Chinese and Hong Kong newspapers have reported.

A Singapore consultancy company had earlier spent two years working with the southern boomtown's environment and sanitation bureau and compiled a report on the challenges it faced and how they should be tackled.

Shenzhen has also sent officials to Singapore on study trips in its ambitious aim to turn itself into a garden city like the Republic, the paper added.

Last month, the city announced it would continue hiring a Singapore consultancy to help it in its public sanitation quest.

As Shenzhen will be celebrating next year its 30th anniversary as a special economic zone - a designation that helped it become a modern investment hub, it is now keener than ever to move closer to Singapore's environmental standards hoping to achieve a drastic change in image by then.

Most of the changes being carried out are refurbishment and upgrading works, such as repainting the facades of buildings along the thoroughfares and re-fashioning rooftops of high-rises, like what is often done in Singapore's housing estates.

Shenzhen also wants to learn from Singapore's experience in involving the private sector in sanitation and private sector in sanitation and garbage management, and how it put and runs a mechanised public sanitation system.

Guangdong's acting Mayor Mr Wang Rong decided that it should learn from Singapore.

Mr Wang was previously the party boss of Suzhou, where he was very much exposed to Singapore's ways of management in the Suzhou Industrial Park, in which the Republic holds sizeable stakes.

Explaining why Shenzhen did not choose neighbouring Hong Kong as its model, Mr Hu Zhen Hua, a spokesman for the city's urban management bureau, said: "Hong Kong is the efficiency expert, but Singapore is a unique garden city, and nobody would be better than Singapore for environmental improvement."

The Sunday Times (15 Nov 2009)

MM Lee receives top Russian award

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was presented with Russia's highest civilian award, the Order of Friendship at the Istana by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is here on his first official visit.

The Order recognises those who have made a signficant contribution in strengthening friendship, cooperation and relations between nations.

A citation for the award stated that Mr Lee was receiving it for his "outstanding contribution to the development of the Russia-Singapore relationship".

Mr Lee has been a strong supporter of the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management, Russia's first dedicated business school, since its inception in 2006.

Mr Lee became a member of its international advisory board in 2007.

Mr Lee is the second Singaporean to be conferred this award. Businessman, Sudhir Gupta, received the award in 2000. He was the founder of Amtel group, a company which makes tyres, tea, juices and vodka in Russian and the Ukraine.