PM Lawrence Wong at the 11th Malaysia-Singapore Leaders' Retreat Joint Press Conference

Thank you, Prime Minister Anwar for your warm hospitality extended to me and my delegation for this visit, and for our first Leaders’ Retreat together. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet in December last year. I came down with COVID – one of those things that happens unexpectedly. I thank you and the Malaysian government for making the accommodations to adjust to a different date, and I am very glad that we are able to find a date right at the beginning of 2025. So I am your first visitor for the year, and I am glad that we are able to start the new year on such a positive footing to have this visit and to have our first Leaders’ Retreat together.

New Areas of Bilateral Cooperation

Of course, PM Anwar and I have met many times bilaterally since my first introductory visit last year, and also in regional and multilateral forums. We have built up a very strong understanding friendship, a relationship built on trust with one another, and that anchors our bilateral relationship as well. So this Retreat is a useful opportunity to strengthen our friendship even further.

We both agreed on a shared vision of growing connections and connectivity between our two countries.

For example, we are celebrating our shared heritage. We have done so through the Joint Nominations of the Kebaya and Chingay for UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, and we are having a Triennial Cultural Showcase which Malaysia will host this year, in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

We are investing in our shared future together. You saw the host of agreements that we exchanged just now, including a MOU on Higher Education, as well as the exchanges of English teachers through the Malaysia-Singapore English Volunteers Programme, which both PM Anwar and I discussed during my introductory visit last year.

We both agree that bilateral cooperation must continue to deliver concrete benefits to both our peoples.

And that is the basis on which we worked on the Johor-Singapore SEZ (or Special Economic Zone). It is an important project which will build on the complementary strengths of Singapore and Johor, so that we can both be more competitive, enhance our value proposition, and jointly attract more investments to our shores; and by doing so, it will create good jobs and more opportunities for our peoples.

When negotiating the Agreement, both sides have actively engaged stakeholders to ensure that the SEZ has the conditions to help our businesses grow together for the longer term. So we are confident about the SEZ and we look forward to taking it forward.

We are also enhancing and strengthening our transport connectivity. Besides the SEZ, transport connectivity is important.

We have the RTS Link, which will commence services by end-2026. In fact, when completed, it will be able to carry 20,000 passengers every hour – that is more than the current KTM Shuttle does in an entire day. So it is going to be important, and we are continuing to see how we can enhance the connectivity further on the Singapore side.

We are working hard to redevelop Woodlands Checkpoint, which will – when done – help to tackle congestion at the checkpoints too.

Sustainability is a key priority for both sides, so we have also discussed and made good progress on how we can cooperate on green energy and sustainability, including through cross-border electricity trading.

There are some projects that we are discussing, both coming through Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore as well as from Sarawak, and we are fully committed to realising the ASEAN Power Grid.

And just now we signed two MOUs on Carbon Credits and Carbon Capture and Storage, because both countries are committed to working out solutions to jointly tackle climate change.

Outstanding Bilateral Issues

Both Prime Minister Anwar and I have also discussed outstanding bilateral issues which he mentioned just now, including on airspace, water, and maritime delimitation.

These are all important issues for both our countries – we will continue to discuss these issues holistically and constructively within the overall context of our broader relationship.

The issues are complex. We have made some progress, but we still need more time to resolve them.

But we will continue to engage in good faith, and as good neighbours.

And I am confident working together, we can develop durable outcomes on all of these issues with a balance of benefits on both sides.

ASEAN

On ASEAN, Singapore fully supports Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship this year. And I am confident that under Prime Minister Anwar’s leadership, ASEAN’s Community-building efforts and its engagement with key partners will continue to grow from strength to strength.

Conclusion

Finally, as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year, we can be proud of what we have accomplished together as good friends and close neighbours. I am glad to find in Prime Minister Anwar a partner who is equally committed to ensuring that our ties continue to flourish and uplift both our peoples. So I thank Prime Minister Anwar for his friendship, for the trust that we have established, for the arrangements for today’s visit, and I look forward to meeting him again before too long, either in Malaysia or in Singapore. I will certainly be visiting Malaysia for upcoming ASEAN meetings, and I look forward to hosting him in Singapore for the Leaders’ Retreat later this year. Thank you once again.