Toast Speech by PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Official Lunch hosted in honour of UK PM David Cameron

Prime Minister David Cameron
Ministers
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen.

I am delighted to welcome Prime Minister Cameron and his delegation, many of whom are old friends of Singapore.

Their visit happens at a significant time because we celebrate our 50th year of independence in ten days’ time and this is also the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and the Britain.

The Prime Minister is visiting us at a time when Britain has many urgent priorities – setting the domestic agenda, after a decisive election, dealing with the immediate and pressing issues in the European Union and making important decisions on Britain’s long-term role in Europe and in the world.

So we especially appreciate your deciding to cultivate Britain’s ties with Asia now, and are visiting Southeast Asia, including Singapore, on your first major overseas visit after your re-election.

Singapore and Britain have been long good friends. Singapore has encouraged Britain to maintain and grow its many links in the region, not just for old times’ sake, though indeed there are many historical connections. But also because you have many current interests here – investments, trade, educational, cultural, people-to-people links – aspects which enhance Britain’s soft power and influence in the world.

The relationship between our two countries is a special and unique one. It began nearly two centuries ago with the founding of modern Singapore by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company. Since then, the relationship has endured and grown, even as the world and our two countries have changed beyond recognition.

Economically, both trade and investments are up and I am sure with the development of the Northern Powerhouse and secondary cities beyond London, there will be more investments from Singapore to come. Our security agencies and armed forces also cooperate well, from counter-piracy to counter-terrorism. Our educational ties are growing stronger. Many Singaporeans study in British universities or their local campuses in Singapore and a good number of British university students come to Singapore on exchange programmes.

Another way in which Britain projects its influence is through sports. Singaporeans root for British sports teams and sportsmen – Andy Murray at Wimbledon, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in F1, Chris Froome, who just won the Tour De France on Sunday and of course, the English Premier League. In fact, Arsenal, Everton and Stoke City were in town last week, playing to full houses at our new National Stadium. For those of you who are visiting, I should let you know that Arsenal won.

One symbol of our deep historical relationship is the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The Prime Minister visited it and had an orchid named in his honour. The Botanic Gardens were started by British horticulturalists in 1859. They were passionate, dedicated people who studied and gathered the flora of the region, scientific work. They built up and nurtured an amazing collection in the gardens. They tended them faithfully, keeping it going even during the Japanese Occupation. In fact, the person who kept it going during the Japanese Occupation was a certain Mr E J H Corner, an assistant director of the gardens. And there was a house in the gardens in which he lived and we have preserved it, it is an old black and white building and we have named the house after him so it now called The Corner House, not because of its location but because of its history.

So after we became independent 50 years ago, we knew in the Singapore Botanic Gardens we had a treasure. We kept it, built it up and continued to develop it. This year, we were honoured that the Singapore Botanic Gardens was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In part because of its British Heritage. In fact, one technical assessor made a strong recommendation to UNESCO saying that it was “an exceptional example of a British tropical colonial botanic garden in Southeast Asia” which indeed it is.

The Botanic Gardens shares deep links with Kew Gardens in London. Back in 1875, James Muron was appointed as the first botanically trained Superintendent of the Singapore Botanic Gardens from Kew. Two years after that in 1877, the first batch of rubber seedlings were sent to Singapore to the Botanic Gardens from Kew and under our director here, Henry Ridley, the Botanic Gardens made the earliest attempts at rubber cultivation and found out how to grow the rubber, how to tap the rubber without harming the trees. This led to rubber becoming a major crop in the Malayan Peninsula and a major source of revenue from the colonies to Britain. So throughout the 19th century, the Botanic Gardens was part of Kew’s network on plant exploration in South East Asia. The records, naming specimens of all the plants collected are still kept in good order at the Botanic Gardens. So we are especially happy and honoured that the Singapore Botanic Gardens is joining as a UNESCO World Heritage Site this year.

I would like to thank the Kew archives for gathering historic data regarding our history in the preparation for our application to UNESCO. I think Kew Gardens is also a heritage site and we are glad to in very distinguished and good company. I would also like to thank the Prime Minister for the warm reception that our President Tony Tan received on his State Visit to the United Kingdom last year. It was the first State Visit by a Singaporean President and a testament to our excellent bilateral relations.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Singapore in 2012, and received a very enthusiastic welcome. We hope they will come back again and bring their little kids along one day. But we also remember fondly in Singapore the two visits by Her Majesty the Queen in 1972, more than forty years ago and 2006, nearly a decade ago.

The last time a Queen’s Representative was our guest at the National Day was on the 150th year of our city’s founding in 1969, when Princess Alexandra visited us. This year, for our 50th National Day celebrations, we look forward to receiving Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, as the Queen’s Representative in two weeks’ time. This is a long relationship, we celebrate and we are giving it a further push forward.

Finally, may I ask our distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, to rise and join me in a toast to Her Majesty the Queen, to the good health and success of Prime Minister David Cameron, and to the enduring ties of friendship between Singapore and the United Kingdom.

Cheers!

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