PM Lee Hsien Loong at the 6th Qatar-Singapore High-Level Joint Committee Meeting

Your Excellency

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani

Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the State of Qatar

Members of the Qatari and Singaporean delegations

Allow me to make some brief remarks before you begin the 6th Qatar-Singapore High Level Joint Committee (HLJC) meeting.

His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah and I had a good discussion yesterday at the Istana as well as over dinner. 

As we agreed last night, Singapore-Qatar ties are excellent. Our economic links are growing. Bilateral trade is almost S$10 billion per year. Qatar is Singapore’s third largest trading partner in the Middle East. Singapore companies are involved in major projects in Qatar, such as the Domestic Solid Waste Management Centre by Keppel and the automation of the customs system by CrimsonLogic. Qatari companies are also expanding in Singapore. Qatar Petroleum International has invested in Shell’s petro¬chemical plant here. Qatar supplied the first shipment of LNG used to commission Singapore’s new LNG terminal this March. We hope to do more in the energy field with Qatar in future. 

I am pleased that the GCC-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (GSFTA) has come into force. I warmly recall signing the GSFTA on my visit to Doha in 2008. The FTA will enhance our economic ties by promoting trade and investment flows between our countries and regions. 

The HLJC is the key platform for bilateral cooperation between Qatar and Singapore. We have signed more than 20 MOUs and agreements over five HLJC meetings so far. I am deeply grateful for the strong support of the Emir His Highness Sheikh Tamim, who co-chaired the HLJC since its establishment in 2006. We have also built up a valuable store of goodwill between the participants on both sides. I am glad that Sheikh Abdullah will co-chair the HLJC and even more honoured that he has brought along a distinguished delegation of ministers and senior officials. I hope that both delegations will get to know one another better at a personal level. 

You have a full agenda for the HLJC meeting. It will cover economic relations, water security, rail transit and leadership development. These issues are important to our two countries. As small states in a globalised world, Singapore and Qatar have much to learn from each other. We look forward to understanding more about Qatar, and hope our experience will be useful to you too. 

Singapore and Qatar celebrate the 30th anniversary of our diplomatic relations next year. Today’s discussions will pave the way for better bilateral relations in the years ahead.

Unfortunately I am unable to stay for the meeting as I have another commitment, to speak at a Conference of ASEAN telecommunications ministers which Singapore is hosting. I wish you all a successful and fruitful HLJC meeting, and look forward to working with our Qatari friends to take our bilateral relationship forward.

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