Singapore
President Tokayev congratulated Lawrence Wong on his recent appointment as Prime Minister of Singapore and wished him success in his endeavours.
The Head of State emphasised that Singapore is a strategic partner of Kazakhstan in South East Asia and praised the long-standing partnership between the two countries.
“We attach great importance to our multifaceted cooperation with Singapore. We have a long tradition of close ties. I am personally involved in the history of the relationship with Singapore. As a young diplomat in the 1970s, I had the honour of serving in Singapore. I still remember the name of the street – Nassim Road 51”– said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The Head of State highlighted the remarkable growth and advancement of Singapore, as well as the country's leading global economic position.
The President expressed confidence that the outcome of his first state visit to Singapore would give a strong impetus to bilateral relations and reaffirmed his readiness to provide the necessary assistance for this purpose.
According to him, the agenda of the visit includes a business forum, meetings with heads of leading Singaporean companies and discussion of specific business projects of mutual interest.
The Prime Minister of Singapore also highlighted the significant potential for mutually beneficial collaboration to be further enhanced.
According to Lawrence Wong, the economies of the two countries are complementary, and Singapore can serve as a gateway for Kazakhstan to expand its interaction with ASEAN countries, while Kazakhstan can facilitate Singapore's rapprochement with the countries of Central Asia.
The leaders paid special attention to the prospects of economic and investment cooperation. The parties reaffirmed their mutual commitment to expanding cooperation in such areas as green energy, transport and logistics, digitalisation, finance, agribusiness, connectivity, mining and processing of critical minerals, and e-commerce.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Lawrence Wong welcomed the implementation of such flagship projects as Alatau City (G4 City) in Almaty region with the participation of the Singaporean company Surbana Jurong, as well as the partnership between PSA International and Kazakhstan Railways aimed at increasing the potential of the Trans-Caspian international transport route.
Special attention was paid to strengthening cooperation in education and science, including strengthening inter-university cooperation, student exchange, etc.
The parties agreed to make joint efforts to expand contacts between the business communities of Kazakhstan and Singapore. The Head of State proposed the establishment of an intergovernmental commission to help strengthen the multifaceted partnership between the two countries.
At the end of the meeting, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev invited Lawrence Wong to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan.
The President of Kazakhstan and the Prime Minister of Singapore then took part in a ceremony to exchange documents signed during the visit. There was a symbolic exchange of folders between Murat Nurtleu, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, and Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations of Singapore.
During the state visit of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to the Republic of Singapore, the following interstate and interdepartmental documents were signed:
- Memorandum of understanding between the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Government of the Republic of Singapore on economic cooperation.
- Memorandum of intentions between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry for Home Affairs
of the Republic of Singapore.
- Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Law of the Republic of Singapore on cooperation in the field of intellectual property rights protection
- Memorandum of Understanding on legal cooperation between the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Law of the Republic of Singapore.
- Memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Science and higher education of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Singapore on the cooperation in the field of higher education.
- Agreement on cooperation for distribution and translation of Singapore standards between Kazakhstan Institute of Standardization and Metrology (Kazstandard) and «Enterprise Singapore» company.