Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan met and was hosted to dinner by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida this evening. Minister Balakrishnan and Minister Kishida reaffirmed the excellent relations between the two countries on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations.[1] Both Ministers expressed satisfaction with the multi-faceted relationship characterised by close cooperation in diverse areas, including trade and investment, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, as well as third country training programmes through the Japan-Singapore Partnership Programme for the 21st Century (JSPP21). They also agreed that more could be done to enhance bilateral relations, including through a substantive review of the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement.
Both Ministers also discussed Japan’s active and close engagement of ASEAN and Southeast Asia. Minister Balakrishnan expressed support for Japan’s efforts to play a more proactive role in the region, and welcomed the recent improvement of relations between Japan and its neighbours.
Earlier today, Minister Balakrishnan delivered the Keynote Address at the 11th Japan-Singapore Symposium (JSS) Open Forum where he highlighted the importance for both countries to take stock of the 50 years of bilateral relations and look forward to further deepen and broaden their close cooperation. Minister Balakrishnan also reiterated Singapore’s support for Japan’s “Proactive Contribution to Peace policy” and the related legislation that would enable Japan to play a greater strategic role in the region within the framework of the US-Japan Security Alliance. The JSS is a Track 1.5 dialogue involving politicians, officials, academics, business and media representatives from both countries. Both countries also announced that the JSS would become an annual dialogue from this year onwards.
Minister Balakrishnan also separately met and discussed Singapore-Japan relations as well as developments in Japan and the region with President of the Democratic Party Katsuya Okada and some former participants of the Raffles Programme, an annual invitational visit programme to Singapore for Japanese senior officials.
Minister Balakrishnan will return to Singapore on 27 April 2016 after meeting other senior Japanese officials and business leaders tomorrow.
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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
26 April 2016
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[1] Singapore and Japan established diplomatic relations on 26 April 1966.