Foreign Secretary, visited Singapore today to forge closer bilateral ties
between the UK and Singapore and further cooperation under the
SG-UK Partnership for the Future.
Both countries have agreed to deepen collaboration on genomic
sequencing, to support countries in Southeast Asia to identify
and assess new variants, and help to manage the current Covid
spread across the Indo-Pacific region.
Speaking from Singapore, Foreign Secretary said:
Singapore is a good friend to the UK. We share the ambition to
use tech and innovation to create the jobs of the future, and
we’ve both committed to solving global and regional economic
challenges – from COVID to climate change.
In his second visit to Singapore, the UK Foreign Secretary met
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister Vivian
Balakrishnan to discuss security and economic cooperation, in
addition to responses to regional human rights challenges and
recovery from Covid.
In the year of the UK’s COP26 Presidency, the UK is keen to
deepen its cooperation with Singapore and to galvanise climate
action across the Indo-Pacific region in support of setting net
zero ambitions ahead of the COP26 summit in Glasgow this
November. The UK and Singapore are global financial hubs with
strong green finance credentials and a common commitment to
developing carbon markets.
On behalf of the UK COP26 Presidency, Singapore has agreed to
work with Norway on resolving carbon market issues ahead of the
summit.
While he was in Singapore the Foreign Secretary explored how
supply chains can be modernised through digitalisation with UK
and Singaporean business representatives.
This was Dominic Raab’s fifth visit to South East Asia since
becoming Foreign Secretary, demonstrating the growing importance
of the Indo-Pacific, as set out in the UK’s Integrated Review.
During the three-day visit to Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore,
the Foreign Secretary announced £4.2m in Official Development
Assistance (ODA) funding for science to support Southeast Asia’s
Covid response and economic recovery, as well as to enable
countries transition to clean energy sources. This funding will
also help assess the social impact of the Covid pandemic.
