History and Achievements

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) was established on August 1965 when Singapore gained independence. The following are some milestone events:

1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010 till present

9 August 1965	Independence of Singapore. Formation of MFA. Mr S Rajaratnam is appointed Singapore’s first Foreign Minister.
21 September 1965	Singapore is admitted as the 117th member of the United Nations.
15 October 1965	Singapore is admitted as the 22nd member of the Commonwealth.
17 January 1966	Singapore signs the convention on the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and becomes a member of the IMO.
3 August 1966	Singapore officially becomes the 104th member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
8 August 1967	Founding of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The ASEAN Declaration is signed in Bangkok.

History and Achievements

September 1970	Singapore is admitted into the Non-Aligned Movement.
14-22 January 1971	Singapore hosts the 18th Conference of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
15-16 April 1971	Ministers of the governments of Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom establish a new defence mechanism called the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA).
20 July 1973	Singapore joins the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
23-24 February 1976	The first ASEAN Summit is held in Bali, Indonesia. The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia is signed by all ASEAN Heads of State and Government. An ASEAN Secretariat is also established.
1978	A watershed year for ASEAN marked by its official recognition as an important regional organisation by the major powers. The first minister-level meetings of the ASEAN-US dialogue are held in August 1978 and the ASEAN-EEC dialogue takes place in November 1978.

History and Achievements

1 June 1980	Mr S Dhanabalan becomes Foreign Minister.
March 1981	Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Tommy Koh, assumes the Presidency of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
13 September 1988	Mr Wong Kan Seng becomes Foreign Minister.
6-7 November 1989	Singapore joins the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and attends the grouping’s first Ministerial Meeting held in Canberra, Australia.

History and Achievements

3 October 1990	Singapore establishes diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
1992	Launch of the Singapore Cooperation Programme.
January 1992	Singapore hosts the 4th ASEAN Summit, which agrees to launch the ASEAN Free Trade Area.
11 February 1993	The APEC Secretariat is established in Singapore.
1994	ASEAN creates the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
2 January 1994	Prof S Jayakumar becomes Foreign Minister.
26 February 1994	Singapore and China sign the Agreement on the Joint Delvelopment of Suzhou Industrial Township.
1 September 1999	Singapore hosts the inaugural meeting of the East Asia-Latin America Forum (EALAF) for senior officials of the 27 participating countries. (The EALAF was renamed the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) in 2001.)

History and Achievements

2000	Singapore launches the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) to assist the integration of new member countries, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), into ASEAN. The flagship project is the setting up of a training center in each of the CLMV countries.
10 October 2000	Singapore is elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) at the 55th session of the UN General Assembly.
14 November 2000	Singapore signs the Agreement between New Zealand and Singapore on a Closer Economic Partnership (ANZSCEP). It is Singapore’s first bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
1 January 2001	Singapore starts its first two-year term in the United Nations Security Council.
26 June 2002	Singapore concludes an FTA with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) comprising Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. This is the first FTA between an European regional grouping and an Asian country.
6 May 2003	Singapore concludes and signs the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (USSFTA). This is the first FTA between the US and an East Asian country.
7 October 2003	The 9th ASEAN Summit in Bali agrees to establish an ASEAN Community.
13 August 2004	Mr George Yeo becomes Foreign Minister.
28 April 2005	Singapore signs the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP).
20-22 June 2005	Singapore hosts the inaugural Asia-Middle East Dialogue (AMED).
29 June 2005	Singapore signs the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)with India. It is India’s first ever CECA, and Singapore’s first comprehensive bilateral economic agreement with a South Asian economy.
17 November 2005	ASEAN and the US issue the Joint Vision Statement to launch the ASEAN-US Enhanced Partnership.
19-20 September 2006	Singapore hosts the IMF-World Bank Meetings.
14 January 2007	ASEAN signs the Cebu Declaration on the Acceleration of the Establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015.
15 January 2007	ASEAN signs a Free Trade Agreement in services with China.
4-6 September 2007	Singapore hosts the IMO Meeting which establishes the Co-operative Mechanism for Safety of Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
18 November 2007	Singapore and China sign the Framework Agreement on the Development of An Eco-City in the People’s Republic of China.
18-21 November 2007	Singapore hosts the 13th ASEAN Summit. During the Summit, ASEAN Leaders sign the ASEAN Charter and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint. With the Charter, ASEAN moves a step closer towards becoming a more rulesbased and effective regional grouping, while the Blueprint guides ASEAN towards the realisation of a single market and production base by 2015.
7 January 2008	Singapore is the first ASEAN country to ratify the ASEAN Charter.
23 May 2008	The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards the sovereignty of Pedra Branca to Singapore.
15 December 2008	The ASEAN Charter officially enters into force at a special gathering of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers held at the ASEAN Secretariat.
10 March 2009	Singapore and Indonesia sign treaty related to the Delimitation of the Territorial Seas of the Two Countries in the Western Part of the Strait of Singapore.
9 May 2009	President S R Nathan’s State Visit to Japan. This is the first State Visit by a Singapore President to Japan.
02 August 2009	MFA launches new eRegister portal.
08 November 2009	Singapore hosts APEC 2009, followed by the 1st ASEAN-US Leaders’ Meeting.

History and Achievements

03 January 2010	Singapore opens Consulate-General in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
11 January 2010	MFA launches its Twitter account @MFAsg.
12 – 13 April 2010	Singapore attends the inaugural Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC.
6 August 2010	Singapore opens Consulate in Batam, Indonesia.
21 May 2011	Mr K Shanmugam becomes Foreign Minister.
17 June 2011	MFA Consular launches its Twitter Feed @MFASgConsular.
1 July 2011	Singapore and Malaysia fully implement the Points of Agreement on Malayan Railway Land in Singapore.
18 July 2011	Singapore opens Trade Office in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa. It is Singapore’s first Trade Office in Sub-Saharan Africa.
31 August 2011	Singapore hands over the waterworks under the 1961 Water Agreement to the Johor water authorities upon the expiry of the 1961 Water Agreement on 31 August 2011.
22 September 2011	Singapore concludes its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) with the adoption of Singapore’s National Report at the 18th Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
22 August 2012	MFA Consular launches its smartphone app MFA@SG.
3 September 2012	Singapore opens embassy in Brasilia, Brazil. It is Singapore’s first embassy in Latin America.