Sailing towards an ASEAN Community

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is supporting an ASEAN contingent on Leg 4 of the seven-leg Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race. This initiative is part of Singapore's series of commemorative activities to celebrate ASEAN's 40th Anniversary this year. Singapore will also be taking over the ASEAN Chairmanship from the Philippines in August and hosting the 13th ASEAN Summit in November 2007.

Leg 4 of the 35,000-mile Clipper Race will begin in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 1 January 2008, head north for a stop-over in Singapore, sail through the South China Sea and finish at the Olympic sailing port of Qingdao, China in February 2008.

Singapore will continue to advance and accelerate ASEAN's efforts towards the goal of an integrated ASEAN Community by 2015 during its Chairmanship.

The commemorative events that Singapore has lined up throughout the year are thus focused on promoting greater awareness of ASEAN, especially among the youth of the region.

Of the ASEAN Clipper contingent project, the MFA explained that having young people from ASEAN countries sailing together in the Clipper Race is a unique opportunity for them to interact and understand one another better. It is hoped that the ASEAN crew, after three months of close contact and working together towards a common goal, will develop a sense of camaraderie that will be kept alive through post-race networking in the years to come.

When asked why he wanted to participate in the ASEAN contingent, Goh Lih Shiun, Singapore's participant in the ASEAN contingent replied, "Besides challenging myself to the limits and hoping to achieve a sense of accomplishment and self-actualisation, I am also excited about representing Singapore as part of the contingent and to be an ambassador of ASEAN. "

Like the Keppel Ambassadors, the ASEAN crew, most of whom have hardly had any sailing experience, underwent an intensive training programme on 27 June 2007 in Gosport, UK.