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‘Better late than never,’ says Balakrishnan on first Pakistan visit by S’pore leader in two decades

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The two countries are seeking to boost their economic partnership, as current two-way trade totals around US$1.19 billion compared to Singapore's significantly larger trade volumes with other South Asian nations. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan urged small and medium-sized enterprises to build direct cross-regional links to help drive commerce and investment flows. Additionally, the visit fostered operational collaboration between domestic agencies to handle natural catastrophes and extreme weather.

Key points

  • Leaders from both countries discussed boosting investment flows, expanding carbon markets…: Leaders from both countries discussed boosting investment flows, expanding carbon markets, and advancing technological upskilling.
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises were encouraged to engage directly across South-east A…: Small and medium-sized enterprises were encouraged to engage directly across South-east Asia and South Asia to narrow trade disparities.
  • Singapore aims to learn from Pakistan's experience with large-scale natural disasters thr…: Singapore aims to learn from Pakistan's experience with large-scale natural disasters through joint training, search and rescue, and early warning collaboration.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

- Singapore and Pakistan renewed ties during Vivian Balakrishnan’s visit to Islamabad for 60 years of diplomatic relations.

- Both sides want more trade, investment and business links, as current trade is only US$1.19 billion, far below Singapore’s trade with India and Bangladesh.

- They also signed an MOU on disaster response, and plan to work on early warning, rescue training and wider ASEAN-SCO cooperation.

AI generated

SINGAPORE – Greater bilateral trade, investment flows and technological upskilling were among the topics discussed during Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s official visit to Islamabad, Pakistan, on Oct 30.

He was in Pakistan at the invitation of the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, to mark Singapore and Pakistan’s 60th year of diplomatic relations.

“Over the years, there have been high-level exchanges at the leadership level, sometimes all over the world; not often enough in our own home countries,” Balakrishnan remarked on the very rare direct high-level visits between leaders of the two countries during a joint press conference with Dar in Islamabad.

“I was checking the records.…

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