just 2 wks ago.....
"Let me just give you two examples of how having good ministers can advance our interests abroad, out of many."
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"This next example is Lim Swee Say. Swee Say attends the ILO Conference in Geneva every year. International Labour Organisation. He used to go as Secretary General of NTUC, now he goes as Minister for Manpower. "
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"It was a very miserable dinner. So Swee Say is never one for a miserable dinner, he decided to turn the discussion around and to focus on solutions and not problems and he did it, the way only Swee Say knows how to do it. He started by acknowledging we all face the same 3 “D” challenges, D for delta. What’s D? Jobs Deficit, Skills Deficit, Quality Deficit, so three D’s. So everybody nodded, say yes. Then he said, we all want the same three F’s opportunities – future. Jobs of the future, skills of the future, career of the future, everybody smiled. Then he concluded that the solution was to strengthen the three P’s – Partnership between the partners. Partners: Government, unions and employers. And he shared about Singapore’s unique tripartite approach and sold a little bit of “koyok” for us. So when Swee Say had finished, the mood in the room had lifted and everyone was discussing solutions and not moping. And the Director-General rounded the discussion and proposed three cheers for Singapore. "