{"id":82315,"date":"2026-09-05T05:15:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T21:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=82315"},"modified":"2026-09-05T05:15:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T21:15:04","slug":"foo-cexiang-sworn-in-as-minister-of-state-singapore-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=82315","title":{"rendered":"Foo Cexiang sworn in as Minister of State, Singapore News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>First-term Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC Foo Cexiang was on Thursday (Sept 3) sworn in as Minister of State.<\/p>\n<p>Foo was sworn in by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam in a ceremony held at the Istana, witnessed by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.<\/p>\n<p>Writing in a Facebook post after the ceremony, PM Wong said that the newly-minted minister of state has been a strong advocate for Singapore&#8217;s youths and communities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am glad to have Cexiang join our team, and look forward to his contributions as we continue working to create good jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans,&#8221; the prime minister added.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/Foo%20Cexiang%20sworn%20in%20as%20Minister%20of%20State.png\" data-entity-uuid=\"2da237a4-421b-4129-a65d-6ea2cb059d44\" data-entity-type=\"file\" alt=\"Minister of State Foo Cexiang (left), with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, after he was sworn in at the Istana on Thursday (Sept 3).\" height=\"2000\" width=\"3000\" data-caption=\"Minister of State Foo Cexiang (left), with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, after he was sworn in at the Istana on Thursday (Sept 3). PHOTO: Ministry of Digital Development and Information\"\/><\/p>\n<h2>15 years in civil service\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>The 41-year-old spent nearly 15 years as a civil servant before entering politics in the last <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/singapore\/pap-wins-tanjong-pagar-grc-8103-votes-over-par\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General Election<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He is currently an MP in Tanjong Pagar GRC.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He has held portfolios spanning industrial planning, security policy, education planning.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to his resignation, Foo was director of private and future mobility at the Ministry of Transport.<\/p>\n<p>After the General Election, Foo joined PSA Singapore as its vice-president for port ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>In a Facebook post after his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/singapore\/singapore-cabinet-reshuffle-shawn-loh-foo-cexiang-minister-of-state\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">promotion to the frontbench<\/a> was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/singapore\/singapore-cabinet-reshuffle-lawrence-wong-jeffrey-siow-david-neo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced by PM Wong on July 22<\/a>, Foo, who has been appointed Minister of State for Manpower and Minister of State for Trade and Industry, said he was &#8220;humbled and honoured&#8221; to join the Government.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I started my career in the civil service in JTC, a statutory board under MTI, in 2010, and was posted to MTI in 2013, where I had the opportunity to work with MOM to develop SkillsFuture,&#8221; he said then.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am excited to return to MTI and join MOM, with a singular mission \u2014 \u00a0to contribute towards creating more good jobs and careers for all Singaporeans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Another first-term MP and former civil servant joining the frontbench is Shawn Loh (Jalan Besar GRC).<\/p>\n<p>He had asked to begin his appointment on Jan 1 to facilitate a smooth leadership transition for his current role as group managing director at Commonwealth Capital Group.<\/p>\n<h2>Priorities<\/h2>\n<p>In an interview with CNA aired on Aug 31, Foo described his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/singapore\/foo-cexiang-minister-of-state-priorities-workplace-flexibility-artificial-intelligence-emerging-economies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">approach in his new roles<\/a> as one of consultative and collaborative.<\/p>\n<p>He set out two focuses at the manpower ministry \u2014 artificial intelligence and how it fits into a worker&#8217;s growth, and the working environment for parents amid Singapore&#8217;s push for greater support for parents.<\/p>\n<p>At the trade and industry ministry, the minister of state, noting that global trading patterns are shifting as countries diversify their economic links and new routes gain prominence, said he sees an opportunity for Singapore to remain at the centre of these flows, while preparing Singaporeans to venture into emerging markets such as Africa, Latin America and Central Asia.<\/p>\n<p>He also pointed out that countries in these regions also have a very strong population dividend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>[[nid:744061]]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/singapore\/mailto:editor@asiaone.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">editor@asiaone.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/singapore\/foo-cexiang-minister-of-state-swearing-in\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First-term Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC Foo Cexiang was on Thursday (Sept 3) sworn in as Minister of State. Foo was sworn in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}