Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed Singapore Foreign Minister and Minister for Law K. Shanmugam to Washington and said the two countries are working together on “a full range of issues.”
Speaking in Washington February 1 after their meeting, Clinton said, “The U.S.-Singapore relationship is both broad and deep, and it will only continue to strengthen in the years ahead.”
Clinton and Shanmugam signed a joint vision statement on a new political framework between the countries, outlining areas of future cooperation including trade, democracy and security.
The joint statement “articulates shared beliefs and goals, a mutual commitment to security, prosperity, protecting diversity, and the rule of law,” Clinton said, which “are values that both Americans and Singaporeans cherish.”
They also signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a strategic partners dialogue in which senior officials from both countries will meet annually “to review our bilateral agenda as well as our regional and global cooperation,” she said.
According to the State Department, the next dialogue is scheduled to take place in Singapore in 2013.
The United States and Singapore are teaming up to help the countries of the Lower Mekong area. Development experts from both countries will be sent to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.
“They will team up to give health workers the tools they need to fight infectious disease, to help improve trade capacity, work to boost tourism, [and] share best practices with teachers, humanitarian disaster relief workers, police and firefighters,” Clinton said.
“We also discussed other ways that we could pursue third-country training to help with the public administration and the civil service of countries,” she said.
The U.S.-Singapore agreements “highlight the importance that we place on our partnership,” Clinton said, and the multidimensional growth of the relationship “is an example of the importance the United States sets on strengthening our engagement in the Asia-Pacific.”
Shanmugam, who is visiting the United States for the first time as Singapore’s foreign minister, said his country welcomes substantial U.S. engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.
“We believe that the U.S. engagement in Asia has been a pillar, the foundation of peace and prosperity in the region,” he said.