Foreign Secretary visits Singapore to strengthen bilateral climate and tech ties and announce science collaboration
Dominic Raab visited Singapore 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 Dominic Raab 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 3-day visit to Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore, the Foreign Secretary announced £4.2 million 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.
Find out more about the Foreign Secretary’s travel in South East Asia and his visits to
You can also read the Singapore-UK joint statement 2021: a partnership for the future.
Background
The latest photographs from the Foreign Secretary’s visit to South East Asia can be viewed on Flickr.
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