PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Official Dinner Hosted in Honour of Australian PM Julia Gillard

The Honourable Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia
Mr Tim Mathieson,
Excellencies and Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very honoured to welcome Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Mr Tim Mathieson and the Prime Minister’s distinguished delegation to Singapore. The Prime Minister last visited us four years ago as Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister at that time. Since then, I have met her several times at international fora, where I have benefited from comparing notes with her and working with her towards shared goals. I am very happy to welcome Prime Minister Gillard back on her first official visit as Prime Minister, and I hope that she liked the orchid that was named after her this morning.

Singapore and Australia enjoy a close and long-standing relationship. The Prime Minister visited the Kranji War Memorial this morning, because Australian troops lost their lives defending Singapore during the Second World War. Australia was one of the first countries to recognise Singapore’s independence in 1965. For that we will always be grateful. Since then, our relationship has remained close, underpinned by our shared strategic perspectives and wide-ranging cooperation.

Our people-to-people ties are warm and strong. There is a deep reservoir of goodwill, for many reasons – the war, the exchanges, the Colombo Plan programme, the students who are still studying there. And I hope the Prime Minister experienced this goodwill personally during her schedule today. It is reflected in the extensive contact between our populations: Australia gets more than 300,000 visitors from Singapore annually, while Singapore welcomes close to a million Australian tourists. There are more than 20,000 Australians living and working in Singapore and around 50,000 Singaporeans in Australia, including 10,000 students. I met some of these students when I was in Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year. They were at home in a friendly country, amidst a very welcoming people.

Defence cooperation is an important component of our relationship.The SAF deeply appreciates the opportunity to train in Australia – in Rockhampton, Oakey, Pearce and Tamworth. We are particularly grateful to the local communities for receiving our soldiers and airmen so warmly. Where we can, we have tried to respond to their generosity and to repay it. During the disastrous floods in Queensland last year, SAF personnel in Rockhampton participated in local relief efforts. We hope they made some useful contributions during your time of need. Australia and Singapore are also members of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA). The interactions between our armed forces at FPDA exercises have helped us in operational deployments, including in the multinational stabilisation and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.

In economic relations, Singapore is Australia's largest trade and investment partner in ASEAN and its fifth largest overall trading partner. Singapore is also the fifth largest investor in Australia. Thanks to the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), our economic ties are growing. The total stock of Australian investments in Singapore more than doubled between 2005 and 2010, and the number of Australians doing business in Singapore is growing about 10% a year. We should encourage this to continue.

Prime Minister

One reason for our good relations is that we share similar strategic perspectives. Australia plays an important role in the region. We value Australia’s engagement in the Asia-Pacific and your contributions to forums such as ASEAN, the East Asia Summit and APEC. The White Paper on “Australia in the Asian Century”, which you commissioned, is a timely study of Australia’s future role in Asia. We hope it reinforces Australia’s commitment to a stronger regional architecture and continued growth and prosperity in the region.

Australia’s broader international role is also well recognised. We share a commitment to trade liberalisation and strong global institutions such as the WTO, APEC, G20 and the IMF. In this regard, Singapore is happy to support Australia’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council in the year 2013-2014.

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

May I invite you to rise and join me in a toast:

• To Her Majesty the Queen of Australia;
• To the good health and success of Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Mr Tim Mathieson; and
• To the enduring friendship between Singapore and Australia.

Thank you.