Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo met separately with Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith on 20 November 2008 at the sidelines of the 20th APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Lima, Peru. In his meetings with Foreign Ministers Cannon and Lavrov, they agreed to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation with Canada and Russia respectively. Minister Yeo and Foreign Minister Smith discussed the impact of the global financial crisis, and the regional strategic architecture, especially the importance of deepening the engagement of major powers in the region.
Minister Yeo also called on the co-Chair of the AMM Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde at the Peruvian Foreign Ministry where they reaffirmed the good bilateral relations between the two countries ahead of the official visit by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and agreed to explore ways to further strengthen links. In particular, the recently concluded Singapore-Peru Free Trade Agreement would provide a good platform to forge closer linkages between the people and private sector from both sides.
Speaking at a Joint Ministerial Media Conference organised by the Peruvian Chair at the close of the AMM, Minister Yeo said that while APEC economies were facing a deepening crisis in view of the current global financial situation, APEC had demonstrated in the past that it only grew stronger and more relevant after each crisis.
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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
21 NOVEMBER 2008