Dr Ng Engages Young Leaders at 13th Munich Young Leaders Roundtable on Charting a More Equitable Post-Pandemic Future

Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen speaking at the 13th Munich Young Leaders (MYL) Roundtable.

Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen is in Germany to attend the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC). The MSC is an annual high-level security conference that brings together heads of government, defence and foreign ministers, parliamentarians, military leaders, and security experts from around the world. This year's MSC covers a wide range of important security issues. These include geopolitical and security developments in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and other security issues pertaining to defence cooperation, international trade and climate security.

Dr Ng spoke at the 13th Munich Young Leaders (MYL) Roundtable on the topic "Charting a More Equitable Post-Pandemic Future". The MYL Roundtable, held on the sidelines of the 58th MSC, brings together young leaders from governments, think-tanks and the private sector from the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States to discuss issues related to foreign and security policy.

At the roundtable, Dr Ng interacted with 16 young leaders from 13 countries. They discussed the impact of crises and transnational forces, and the need to strengthen our international institutions to address common challenges. "Existing mechanisms that we have now, and institutions like the United Nations (UN), World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are under siege.… What's happened post-World War II now, 70 to 80 years now, we see new institutions driven by different principal actors to bring coordinated action where older institutional frameworks in their mind, couldn't fix, couldn't get a consensus, so that they can address these pan-geographic issues," Dr Ng said. "Ultimately for every generation, you require a leadership, an enlightened leadership…you need to raise leaders who believe in what they're doing…Ultimately, it is about what you believe, what you believe can change, what you believe can be in effect, and who you do it for."

Dr Ng will also be speaking on the topic "Bridging Troubled Waters – Rethinking Maritime Security Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region", as part of a Maritime Security Roundtable at the MSC.

Dr Ng engaging participants at the MYL Roundtable.

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Remarks by Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, at the 13th Munich Young Leaders Roundtable On "Charting a More Equitable Post-Pandemic Future"