G20: UK and Singapore agree new strategic partnership

Rishai Sunak will meet Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the margins of the G20 Summit.

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 leaving 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 a £21 billion trade relationship accounting for 40% of the UK’s 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.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

“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, Rishi Sunak 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. The UK is currently 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.

Story: gov.uk

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Read also:

G20, 9-10 Sept: India receives world leaders ahead of 2 day summit

G20 Delhi Summit: Charles Michel condemns Putin’s war against the Ukrainian people

G20: “Global leaders must make clear Putin’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative has increased Russia’s global isolation”