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The Prime Minister was in Singapore as part of a regional trip in which he is also visiting Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, The Rt. Honourable David Cameron MP, visited Singapore on 28 and 29 July 2015. The Prime Minister was in Singapore as part of a regional trip in which he is also visiting Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.

During his two-day official visit, the Prime Minister had bilateral talks with Singapore’s President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana where he was given a full ceremonial welcome and hosted to an official lunch. He also witnessed the signing of an MOU on cyber-security with PM Lee. To commemorate his visit, the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which was recently inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, named an orchid in his honour, the Papilionanda David Cameron.

The Prime Minister also delivered a keynote speech at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, calling for stronger international commitment to tackling corruption, including through greater transparency on business ownership. He was also Guest of Honour at a ‘Business is GREAT’ themed reception for British and Singapore business and community leaders held at Eden Hall. He visited Commonwealth Secondary School where he viewed their environmental education and design space facilities and took the opportunity to speak with local students.

Accompanying the Prime Minister on his visit were The Rt. Hon. Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills; The Rt. Hon. Lord Maude, Minister of State for Trade and Investment; The Rt. Hon. Amber Rudd MP, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change; and The Rt. Hon. Anna Soubry MP, Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise. The Prime Minister also led a 30-strong business delegation representing a cross section of UK business. He spoke at a Northern Powerhouse trade and investment event that highlighted the strengths of businesses, the opportunities for Singapore investors and the potential for partnership with Singapore in the great cities of the North of England.

While in Singapore, the Prime Minister and his Ministers agreed a series of key Singapore-UK initiatives. These included a commitment of the two Governments to jointly host the second regional Green Growth & Business Forum in Singapore in July 2016 as part of their on-going collaboration on low carbon business; a joint partnership on innovating for smart cities and living between Singapore’s National Research Foundation and InnovateUK, as well as activities linking the UK’s Digital Catapult and Singapore’s Smart Nation Programme; and a contract for FutureEverything (UK) to deliver a Singapore festival in autumn in Singapore commissioned by the Infocomm Development Authority to promote the national vision of using technology to improve lives and businesses as part of the SG50 celebrations. Further information on these and other Singapore-UK initiatives that demonstrate the deep and broad bilateral relationship are in the Annex.

The Prime Minister’s official visit during Singapore’s Golden Jubilee Year and the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations marks and celebrates the close, strong and longstanding ties between the two countries.

Please contact the undersigned for more information –

Benedict Thambiah

Communications Manager

British High Commission Singapore

Tel.: 6424 4271

Mobile: 9003 7566

Email: benedict.thambiah@fco.gov.uk