The UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab will travel to Singapore on Monday 10 February and Malaysia on Tuesday 11 February to build stronger ties with their important partners in South East Asia and to promote the UK as a dynamic nation.
SG-UK Partnership for the Future to continue after success in 2019
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will meet Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing to ensure the relationship between countries will flourish now the UK has left the EU. The visit aims to strengthen links in areas such as climate change, technology and trade between countries – which was worth £12.7 billion in 2018.
They will celebrate the success of the SG-UK Partnership for the Future, a collaboration launched in 2019 to mark the 200th anniversary of Sir Stamford Raffles’ arrival in Singapore.
The first year of this collaboration saw 26 agreements to increase work together in areas such as science and innovation, education, medical technology, climate resilience and cyber security. In 2020, the collaboration will focus on climate, technology, security and knowledge.
UK and Singapore are committed to green technology development
The UK and Singapore have strong research bases and are committed to green technology development. The Foreign Secretary will visit the Tengeh reservoir which is being used as a testbed for floating solar power technology as Singapore seeks to diversify its energy mix.
The Foreign Secretary will also visit a high tech research lab that is a collaboration between UK firm Rolls-Royce, Nanyang Technological University Singapore and Singapore’s National Research Foundation. It is the first corporate lab to bring together universities and companies to jointly work on R&D focusing on electrics, manufacturing technology and data analytics.
UK Foreign Minister to set out vision for future relationship with Malaysia
While in Kuala Lumpur, the Foreign Secretary will use a series of high-level meetings – including with Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Foreign Minister Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah and Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Yeo Bee Yin – to set out the vision for the future relationship with Malaysia in trade, science and innovation, climate change and education.
Trade, investment and business links between the UK and Malaysia are already worth over £5billion a year, with iconic projects like the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station in London showcasing Malaysian investment in the UK.
Malaysia is the second-largest market in ASEAN for the UK and there are huge opportunities for the future.
The Foreign Secretary will make clear the support for Malaysian efforts to clean up the oceans by reducing plastic use and marine debris, and pledge to work together to stop illegal shipments of plastic waste from UK.
