Singapore Post and Macao Post issued joint stamps for the first time in Singapore on Friday, which featured popular dishes from Singapore and Macao.

The stamp issue's launch was also in conjunction with Singapore Food Festival, which kicked off on the same day.

The stamps came in 26 cents (1st Local) and 65 cents in Singapore currency, and 1.50 and 3.50 Patacas in Macao currency.

They were presented in two blocks of four stamps each, with each one depicting a famous dish of either Singapore or Macao. Each set of four stamps forms an Oriental-designed plate when placed together.

The famous Macao fare on the 1st Local stamps featured the crispy fried chicken, Yangzhou fried rice, Carne de Porco a Alentejana (meat stew) and grilled codfish slices.

On the 65-cent stamps were Singapore's famous dishes, including the Hainanese chicken rice, laksa, roti prata and satay.

A miniature sheet was also available, showing Macao's clay pot rice and Singapore's chilli crab on a pair of 2 Singapore dollars (about 1.5 US dollars) stamps.

"The theme of today's joint stamp issue is Local Delights. It is interesting and apt because Singapore, as you all know, is a multi-cultural food paradise which offers a myriad of choices of Chinese, Malay, Indian, Peranakan and Western cuisines, among others. Over in Macao, too, one can find choice selections of traditional Chinese and Portuguese dishes," Ronnie Tay, chief executive officer of Singapore's Information Development Authority (IDA), said at the launch.

"It is fair to say that our postal cooperation has been an epitome and witness of the growing bilateral cooperation between our countries," said China's Ambassador to Singapore Zhang Xiaokang.

All the stamp products went on sale from Friday at post officesin the two places.

Singapore Post said this was the 13th joint stamp issue launched by it with a foreign postal administration. Singapore and China have issued a few joint stamps since 1996, with the most recent one in 2004, to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of joint venture Suzhou Industrial Park in China.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2008)