His Excellency Suryo Pratomo, Ambassador of Indonesia to Singapore
Professor Greg Lee, President, International Olympiad in Informatics
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good evening.
1. It is my honour to witness the IOI flag handover from Singapore to Indonesia today. This event affirms the close relations between Singapore and Indonesia.
2. On behalf of Singapore, I welcome our international friends joining us this evening, whether online or in person.
3. I am heartened to see the increasing number of people participating in IOI over the years. This year alone, there are 351 participants from 88 teams solving challenging problems that sharpen their informatics skills – and I understand we have the highest number of contestants taking part in IOI this year. Well done!
4. IOI’s primary goal is to stimulate interest in informatics and information technology. In Singapore, like elsewhere around the world, we also see increasing interest in Computing among our students. We have seen a healthy uptake in Computing as a subject, as well as in related co-curricular activities in our schools. Our primary school students today learn coding through our Code for Fun enrichment programme. Through the participation in IOI, we hope to see more young people be inspired to learn Computing.
5. COVID-19 has brought the importance of technology to the forefront. With technology, students from all over the world can learn from and interact with each other without leaving home—and that’s how we have conducted two IOIs online successfully. Well done.
6. While COVID-19 has hastened the adaptation of technology, there will be some who may not be able to adjust to the change as fast. We must do our part to ensure that those around us do not fall behind, so that they can also benefit from the good that technology brings. To the young Computing talents who have participated in IOI, I encourage you to continue building upon your strengths and put your skills to good use to make a positive impact to our community.
7.Finally, congratulations to the IOI organising committee for organising two successful IOIs back-to-back amidst the challenging circumstances. My sincere appreciation to NUS for the great work done and I wish Indonesia success in hosting IOI 2022.
8. Thank you.