PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Joint Press Conference with Australian PM Tony Abbott at the Signing of the Singapore-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Prime Minister Tony Abbott, ministers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I give a very warm welcome to Prime Minister Abbott and his delegation to Singapore.

The visit comes at a significant moment because this is not just our 50th year of independence, but also the 50th year of bilateral relations with Australia.

Our bilateral relations are worth celebrating because of how close our two countries have grown over the years. We have strong and well-established defence, trade and people-to-people links. Our peoples are very close and familiar with each other. There are many of us who live on the other side – 50,000 Singaporeans in Australia and more than 20,000 Australians in Singapore. And many, many Singaporeans have graduated from Australian universities – one estimate puts it at more than 100,000.

We also have lots of tourists between our two countries. Every year, over one million visitors from Australia come to Singapore and I think several hundred thousand go to Australia from Singapore. We are like-minded and we share similar strategic perspectives on the region, whether it is our views on the US rule in Asia, whether it is on the importance of US-China relations, whether it is on the centrality of ASEAN on counter-terrorism. And that is why Singapore has always supported Australia's engagement in the region and Australia’s contribution to regional cooperation and stability.

On economic issues, we both believe in trade liberalisation and an open rules-based trading system. We work well together in many forums, APEC which Australia played a critical role bringing to being, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Royal Customs and Excise Department (RCED), the G20 and many other multilateral organisations.

Our economies complement one another and we play to each other's strength. Singapore is a regional hub with logistics and supply chain networks. Australia is a major exporter of natural resources and mineral products and agricultural products.

But beyond interest, there is also a special warmth in the relationship because of our temperaments of our national ethos, because of our preference to be direct and straight and candid and to the point, and informal and that applies whether between our politicians, our institutions and our peoples. And so with our strategic convergence and our many complementarities it is not surprising that there are many ways we can work more closely together. Therefore I am very glad that today we have taken one step forward – one important step forward – with a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) that Prime Minister Abbott and I have just signed. I would like to thank Mr Abbott for his very strong support, because without his initiating this and pushing this and bringing it through the CSP may not have materialised. He saw the potential for bringing our two countries together. Early on he raised it when we first met in 2012 and I shared his vision and strongly supported it and over the past year our officials have worked hard to make this a reality. So, I would like to thank all the officials who have been involved for working very hard, even up to the last few days to make this happen.

The CSP will take our relations to a new level, there is a transformation agreement, it provides a bold vision and a clear road map for closer relations in the field of trade, investment, foreign policy, defence and security, education and cultural cooperation and people to people links. On economics, we aim to work towards further integrating our two economies and we are going to, as a first step, review the existing Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement by next July to make it more business-friendly and we will also facilitate opportunities for Singaporean businesses to establish a foothold in Northern Australia, which is resource-rich and has many potentials for development. We have just signed an MOU on standards and cooperation, which will reduce regulatory barriers and streamline standards.

On foreign affairs, defence and security, I look forward to working together to address common strategic challenges. We will have annual leaders' meetings alternating between Australia and Singapore and we will strengthen our defence relationship further. Today, Australia very generously hosts military training by our Army and Air Force in various bases in Australia and we will conclude a defence cooperation agreement by July next year which will for example increase Singapore's access to military training areas in Australia. We will also expand our cooperation on transnational challenges, issues like money laundering, organised crime, cyber-crime, drug trafficking and terrorism. And that is why I am very pleased that just now we signed an MOU on combatting terrorism.

Finally, we will enhance our people to people ties. We have signed the MOU on arts and culture cooperation which will facilitate more exchanges between our artists and collaboration between our heritage institutions. Australia has a very vibrant arts scene with excellent cultural institutions and museums as well as a strong community arts programme and Singaporeans have had the benefit of seeing and experiencing Australian art in our heartlands as part of Australia's 50 Bridges programme which the High Commissioner has been promoting.

So, the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership marks an exciting new chapter for us and sets the course for our relationship for the future. We have agreed between the two Prime Ministers for us each to appoint a Minister to oversee the implementation of the CSP, make sure that the road map is followed through over the next 12 months and to report back, particularly on the two immediate and priority goals – which are to review the Singapore-Australia FTA, and conclude defence cooperation agreements, by July 2016.

I would like to thank Prime Minister Abbott for visiting us and his leadership in the CSP. I hope we have given him an interesting and fruitful journey in terms of substance and seeing a bit of Singapore, whether on foot, on bicycle or in our gardens. Thank you.

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