The Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Lawrence Wong, recently made his first overseas work trip of 2023 to Brunei Darussalam. His visit comes after Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah’s fifth state visit to Singapore in August 2022. The purpose of Mr. Wong’s visit was to reaffirm the importance of the long-standing relationship between the two Southeast Asian countries and strengthen cooperation in several new areas.
The topics discussed included the green economy, education, supply chain resilience, and civil service work attachments. As a part of his two-day visit to Brunei Darussalam, Mr. Wong also met the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, besides the Sultan himself.
Mr. Wong further held meetings with other government officials, including the Special Adviser to the Sultan and Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office Isa Ibrahim; and the Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Brunei’s Minister of Finance and Economy II Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah.
In a Facebook post, the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore mentioned that he looked forward to further exchanges with Brunei. He also expressed his desire to strengthen the partnership between the two countries for many more generations to come. He recalled that this mutual support had enabled the two nations to tackle and overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past three years.
During this visit, four new agreements were signed between Brunei Darussalam and Singapore in the areas of energy, the green economy, and food and medical supply resilience.