Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Mr Teo Chee Hean, has visited Australia for four days from 19th – 23rd November as part of a series of discussions on bilateral defence.
Stephen Smith, the Australian Minister of Defence said in a statement:
Singapore and Australia have a close defence partnership based on shared history, common strategic interests and practical cooperation between our defence forces.
The Five Powers Defence Arrangements, which Australia and Singapore share with Malaysia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, will mark its 40th anniversary in 2011.
Australia and Singapore continue to work together to strengthen the region’s peace and security architecture through cooperation in forums like the ASEAN Regional Forum and the ASEAN-Plus Defence Ministers’ Meeting.
Since 1995, Australia and Singapore have had an agreement on the use of Shoalwater Bay, near Rockhampton in Queensland, for annual Singapore Armed Forces exercises. On Friday 19 November, Deputy Prime Minister Teo observed these exercises.
I look forward to seeing Deputy Prime Minister Teo in Australia again in 2011, when Australia hosts the Singapore-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission, the biennial meeting of Foreign, Defence and Trade Ministers from both our countries.