Africa

Singapore enjoys good relations and close cooperation with countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Our interactions with these countries are sustained through regular bilateral visits and meetings at international fora.   Singapore also shares its developmental experience with interested African countries through training programmes and study visits under the Singapore Cooperation Programme. Economic relations between Singapore and African countries have also deepened. The inaugural edition of the Africa Singapore Business Forum (ASBF) was organised by International Enterprise Singapore (IES) and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) in July 2010.  Following the ASBF, the Africa Business Group (AfBG) was launched under the auspices of the SBF as a platform, to facilitate the exchanges between the Singapore business community and their counterparts in Africa. The second edition of the ASBF saw a successful run in August 2012, attracting over 200 participants from 34 African countries.  In 2011, IES set up its first trade office in Sub-Saharan Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa.  

Singapore hosted the following visits by leaders of African countries in 2010 - 2012:

• Prime Minister of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Raila Odinga, in January 2010
• King of the Kingdom of Lesotho, His Majesty King Letsie III, in January 2010
• Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius, Dr the Honourable Navinchandra Ramgoolam, in September 2010
• First Lady of Nigeria, Her Excellency Dame Patience Jonathan, in September 2010
• President of the Republic of Gabon, His Excellency Ali Bongo Ondimba, in November 2010
• President of the Togolese Republic, His Excellency Faure Gnassingbé, in June 2011
• President of the Republic of Congo, His Excellency Denis Sassou-Nguesso, in July 2011
• Governor of Nasarawa State, Nigeria, His Excellency Alhaji Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, in July 2012
• Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, His Excellency Beyon Luc Adolphe Tiao, in August 2012
• Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria, His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola, in July 2010 and August 2012
• Prime Minister of Cape Verde, His Excellency Jose Maria Neves, in September 2012

Visits by Singapore leaders to Sub-Saharan Africa from 2009 - present:

• Minister of State (Trade and Industry) Lee Yi Shyan visited South Africa and Nigeria in October 2009
  
• Then-Senior Minister of State (Foreign Affairs) Zainul Abidin Rasheed visited Rwanda and Kenya in December 2010
• Then-President S R Nathan made a state visit to Mauritius in 2011

Singapore established diplomatic relations with the Togolese Republic on 15 June 2012.