MFA Press Statement: Visit of Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli to Batam, 21 August 2013

Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli visited Batam on 21 August 2013 and attended the Singapore National Day Reception hosted by our Consulate in Batam as the Guest-of-Honour.

SMS Masagos met Riau Islands Province (KEPRI) Governor Muhammad Sani and KEPRI Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) Speaker Nur Syafriadi. They affirmed the strong ties between Singapore and KEPRI, and had a good exchange of views on ways to strengthen cooperation.
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REMARKS BY SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND HOME AFFAIRS MASAGOS ZULKIFLI AT THE SINGAPORE CONSULATE IN BATAM’S NATIONAL DAY RECEPTION, WEDNESDAY, 21 AUGUST 2013

Your Excellencies
Bapak Muhammad Sani, Governor KEPRI,
Bapak Nur Syafriadi, Speaker KEPRI DPRD,
Bapak BG Endjang Sudrajat, Police Chief, KEPRI
Fellow Singaporeans,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to be here with you to celebrate Singapore’s 48th National Day. I am also reminded that the Republic of Indonesia just celebrated her 68th Independence Day recently. Let me congratulate Indonesia. To all the Muslims gathered here today, I think it’s not too late for me to wish you all “Selamat Hari Raya”!

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distinguished guests,

Bilateral relations between Singapore and Indonesia are excellent. There are frequent exchanges between our Governments and officials. President Tony Tan made a State Visit to Indonesia in November last year, and our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held their annual Leaders’ Retreat in Singapore in April this year. During these visits, our leaders affirmed our close bilateral cooperation and reiterated their commitment to strengthen and deepen ties.

Our economic relations are strong and Singapore has been Indonesia’s largest investor for the past four years, with total realised investments of US$4.9 billion in 2012 alone. Trade has increased steadily over the same period. We are also each other’s top source of tourist arrivals as alluded to by Bapak Sani just now. This is good as it helps to strengthen ties, not just at a Government-to-Government level, but also between people-to-people.

Bapak Sani, Bapak Nur and I had a short meeting before this reception, and we have met many times before. We were happy to note that Singapore-KEPRI relations mirror the positive trajectory in the overall relationship and we hope that economic cooperation will continue to grow, despite the obstacles that Bapak Sani referred to just now. Singapore was KEPRI’s largest trading partner in 2012, with total trade amounting to more than US$15 billion. During my visit to Bintan in March earlier this year, I was encouraged to see for myself successful collaborations between our companies in tourism and industrial estate management.

We will continue to strengthen bilateral cooperation through the Working Group on cooperation in the islands of Batam, Bintan and Karimun, which was set up by our Prime Minister and President Yudhoyono in 2010 for the purpose of improving the business climate in the Riau Islands to attract more investments. The WG has achieved some notable progress, including the publication of a Joint Expert Study on the competitiveness of BBK and organisation of Joint Investment Promotion trips to Korea and Taiwan. I believe that this has been encouraging and if the investment climate can be further improved, I am sure it will help to attract more investors.

I am heartened that our people-to-people ties are also growing. In July last year, our Consulate resumed a successful partnership with the international medical charity Operation Smile to provide free cleft lip and cleft palate surgery to needy patients in KEPRI. This is the second time we’re doing this, and a large part of its success was due to strong support from Singaporean companies here in Batam, local health authorities and community organisations.

Since 2003, Singapore has also trained more than 260 KEPRI officials under the Singapore Cooperation Programme in areas such as public administration, economic planning and English Language. We continue to welcome officials from the KEPRI government to participate in the SCP.

Let me end by expressing my hopes for closer Singapore-KEPRI relations with a pantun, which I hope will be a good response to Bapak Sani’s earlier, off-the-cuff pantun:

Naik perahu ke Pulau Penyengat
Melihat banyak bunga kemboja
Kepri Singapura terus bersahabat
Kekal hubungan sepanjang masa

[Take a boat to Penyengat island
To see lots of Kemboja flowers
KEPRI-Singapore will remain good friends
The friendship will be eternal]

Thank you.
. . . . .

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
21 AUGUST 2013