Working Visit of His Highness Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 14 to 15 January 2025

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan met and hosted lunch for Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) His Highness (HH) Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud today. The two Ministers reaffirmed the warm and longstanding ties between Singapore and KSA, and discussed ways to deepen cooperation under the Strategic Partnership (SP) announced during then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s visit to KSA in 2023. Minister Balakrishnan and HH Prince Faisal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Establishment of the Saudi Arabia-Singapore SP Council. The SP Council represents a significant elevation of institutionalised engagements between the two countries and will be co-chaired by Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong and Crown Prince and Prime Minister His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

HH Prince Faisal also called on Prime Minister Wong at the Istana. Prime Minister Wong reiterated the outstanding invitation for Crown Prince Mohammed to visit Singapore and looked forward to the convening of the inaugural SP Council. The SP was Singapore’s first with a Middle Eastern country. Prime Minister Wong also expressed appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s efforts in organising the Haj and conveyed Singapore’s request for an increase in the Haj quota to help clear the backlog of Singaporean Muslims seeking to perform the Haj.

During the respective meetings, Prime Minister Wong and Minister Balakrishnan also exchanged views with HH Prince Faisal on developments in the Middle East, including the efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza as well as the situation in the Levant.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

15 JANUARY 2025