Joint media release
- Senator the Hon Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women
- Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment
We will visit Singapore on 7 June with Prime Minister Scott Morrison to attend the Singapore-Australia Annual Leaders’ Meeting, continuing our nation’s commitment to deepening relations with Southeast Asia.
During our visit, we will meet with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and our counterparts, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, and the Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr Chan Chun Sing.
Singapore and Australia have a deep and enduring bilateral relationship, which we elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016.
We see the world in similar terms and share common interests in regional peace, stability and economic prosperity, underpinned by a rules-based order in the region and globally.
Singapore is Australia’s most advanced defence partner in Southeast Asia and shares Australia’s interest in a secure maritime environment. Our strong security relationship is underscored by joint military exercises, significantly increasing training in Australia by Singapore, and close cooperation across defence, intelligence, science and technology sectors.
Our economic ties are strong, underpinned by the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Singapore is also our largest trade and investment partner in ASEAN, and eighth largest trading partner overall.
Under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership we have growing engagement across government, business and wider people-to-people links. More than 2,100 New Colombo Plan students have studied and undertaken internships in Singapore since 2014.
