SINGAPORE

The Singapore govement wants to double the size of the country’s media, design and art industries to six percent of the economy by 2012, a minister said on Saturday. The target cames as officials said they wants the country to move away from its stuffy, rule-bound image and embrace more creativity as it seeks ways to sustain its economic growth.
“The creative industries are poised to play a significant role in transforming our economy and society,”Lee Boom Yang, Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts, told in a graduation ceremony for fine arts student.
Singapore’s goverment has set aside more than US$200 million (US$ 116 million) over the next five years to invest in the arts sector,Lee said, without giving details.
(Taken from Singapore Strait Times, 2004)