Singapore will be hosting the World Stamp Championship to be held under the auspices of the Internationale de Philatelie (FIP) from 28 August to 1 September 2004. Making the event even more significant, the year 2004 will also mark the 150th year since the first use of the first postage stamp in Singapore, in 1854!

In conjunction with the 2004 World Stamp Championship, a series of stamps under the theme, Singapore, A Global City, will be issued.

Under Singapore, A Global City stamp theme, a total of 6 stamps and 15 souvenir sheets will be produced. The entire series will be issued over 18 months from 2002 to 2004 and comprises 3 series.

Each series carries a sub theme. In each series, there is a set of 2 stamps and 5 souvenir sheets.

The sub themes are:

1. Leisure & Lifestyle Series - issued on 20 November 2002 2. Communications & Technology Series - 21 May 2003 (brought forward from 18 June) 3. Trade & Industry Series - to be issued in February 2004

Information has been and will always be vital to Singapore's progress and advancement. Compact in size, Singapore is eager to embrace information technology and to push it to every sector of the country. Well connected to the rest of the world, by sea and air and a sophisticated telecommunications infrastructure, it is able to tap into new developments and to quickly identify new trends in the world.

Through the provision of a good infrastructure, education, skills upgrading and the creation of Singapore as a hub for electronic commerce, Singapore is set to gear itself to meet the challenges and opportunities of the new Information Age.

As in Series One (Leisure & Lifestyle), five souvenir sheets featuring the five specially selected global companies will also be available. They are CNN International, Creative Technology, Microsoft, Siemens and Singapore Airlines. Proceeds from the sale of these souvenir sheets and the stamp series will be used to help fund the 2004 World Stamp Championship.