Gan Kim Yong to become Minister for Trade and Industry; Chan Chun Sing goes to MOE

HEALTH Minister for Gan Kim Yong will become Minister for Trade and Industry with effect from May 15, as Chan Chun Sing becomes Minister for Education instead, in the new Cabinet line-up announced on Friday.

"Right now, MTI, where (Mr Gan) is going, is a key ministry," said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a press conference on the changes. Mr Gan will oversee the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and Singapore's pursuit of new opportunities for growth, he added.

Mr Gan, 62, entered politics in 2001, and was first appointed as an officeholder in 2005, as Minister of State for Education and for Manpower.

He became Acting Minister for Manpower in 2008, and served as full minister there from 2009 to 2011. He has been Health Minister since 2011.

"He has been a point man in the fight against Covid-19," said Mr Lee. When the multi-ministry taskforce (MTF) for Covid-19 was set up, Mr Gan was appointed one of its two co-chairs, alongside current Education Minister Lawrence Wong, who will be taking over as Finance Minister from Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

When he leaves MOH, he will also relinquish his role as MTF co-chair to incoming Health Minister Ong Ye Kung taking over.

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Mr Gan is "well-suited" to head MTI, said Mr Lee. He noted Mr Gan's previous experience in MOM, and his time in MTI as a civil servant in the administrative service - where he worked with Mr Lee in the 1980s - before joining the private sector.

As for Mr Chan, Mr Lee said he had done "an excellent job" at MTI and that the move to MOE would allow him to broaden his experience, adding: "Nurturing people is quite different from growing the economy or mobilising unions."

Mr Chan, 51, has been Minister for Trade and Industry since 2018. He entered politics in the 2011 General Election, and was soon appointed Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, as well as Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts.

In 2012, Mr Chan relinquished his MICA portfolio and became Senior Minister of State for Defence. Later that year, he was made Acting Minister for Social and Family Development, and was promoted to full Minister in 2013, while also becoming Second Minister for Defence.

In 2015, he relinquished those appointments and became Minister in the Prime Minister's Office as well as the secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress. He held those positions until he became Minister for Trade and Industry in 2018.

READ MORE:

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