- The Prime Minister has signed a new strategic partnership
with Singapore to grow the UK’s economy and enhance shared
security.
- Agreement will harness the UK and Singapore’s expertise in
new technologies like cyber and Artificial Intelligence to create
jobs in both our countries.
- Partnership follows agreements with countries including
France, Japan and the US, as PM uses global relationships to
deliver on the UK’s priorities.
The UK’s economy will be bolstered and our security strengthened
under a new bilateral partnership with Singapore agreed by the
Prime Minister today (Saturday
9th September).
The Prime Minister will meet Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong in the margins of the G20 Summit in India to sign a new
UK-Singapore Strategic Partnership. This agreement will set the
direction of UK-Singapore relations for the next decade,
upgrading the UK’s trade and investment relationship with one of
Southeast Asia’s leading economies in recognition of our shared
expertise and interests in areas like technology and clean
energy.
Following the Strategic Partnership, the UK and Singapore will
work to conclude a new and modern bilateral investment treaty –
the first the UK has negotiated since we left the EU. This will
give Singaporean companies more confidence to invest in the UK
and vice-versa, creating jobs and growing our economies.
Singapore is one of the UK’s closest and most dynamic partners in
the region, with our £21 billion trade relationship accounting
for 40% of our total trade with Southeast Asia. Singaporean
entities have a total of £226 billion invested in the UK. Last
year the UK and Singapore signed a first-of-its-kind Digital
Economy Agreement, to help businesses in both our countries seize
new trade opportunities.
In addition to enhanced economic cooperation, the new
UK-Singapore Strategic Partnership will strengthen security
cooperation, science and technology innovation, and research and
development. This includes collaboration to counter new and
emerging threats in domains like cyber, through a first of its
kind partnership between Singapore’s new Digital and Intelligence
Service and the UK.
The Prime Minister said:
“I am totally committed to delivering on my priorities to
halve inflation, grow the economy while reducing government debt,
cut NHS waiting lists and stop the boats. But none of these
priorities can be achieved without working with our international
partners.
“As Prime Minister, I’ve put the interests of the British
people front and centre of my international engagement. I am
ensuring that diplomacy delivers.
“You have already seen that through deals that will stop
illegal migration, make our economy more secure and increase
trade with our international partners.
This new agreement with Singapore will take us even
further in delivering our priorities and ensure that, as we map
the future of the world economy, we are doing so alongside our
closest partners.”
Since becoming Prime Minister, has forged a number of new
bilateral and multilateral partnerships which are already helping
to deliver on the UK Government’s priorities.
This includes agreements with countries such as France, Albania
and Turkey to stop illegal migration, the Hiroshima Accord with
Japan and Atlantic Declaration with the United States which will
strengthen our economy, and the AUKUS pact with Australia and the
US to build a new fleet of nuclear-powered
submarines.
Earlier this year, the UK also became the first new country to
accede to the CPTPP Pacific trade agreement. We are in the
process of negotiating further free trade agreements, including a
deal with India which would be the first the country has signed
with a European country.
And on Thursday, the Prime Minister announced that UK scientists
will have access to the world’s largest research collaboration
programme, Horizon Europe, after he secured a bespoke deal with
the EU.
In his engagements at the G20 today, the Prime Minister will
stress the need for leaders in attendance to drive action on the
biggest challenges facing the world, including stabilising the
global economy and strengthening global
security.
Notes to Editors:
- The full text of the UK-Singapore Strategic Partnership will
be published following the meeting between the Prime Minister and
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee at the G20 on Saturday
9th September.
