Official Visit by Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Friedrich Merz, 27 to 28 October 2026

              Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Friedrich Merz is on an Official Visit to Singapore from 27 to 28 October 2026.

              On 27 October 2026, Chancellor Merz received a ceremonial welcome hosted by Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, and attended an Orchid Naming Ceremony at the Parliament House, where an orchid, Vanda Friedrich Merz, was named in his honour.

              Chancellor Merz had a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Wong. Prime Minister Wong and Chancellor Merz reaffirmed the excellent, longstanding and wide-ranging partnership between Singapore and Germany, spanning the economic, defence, science and technology, and people-to-people fields. Both leaders announced a renewed Joint Declaration and Joint Work Plan for the Singapore-Germany Strategic Partnership that will serve as a forward-looking and ambitious guide for bilateral relations. The Joint Work Plan covers the five pillars of (a) Political, Defence, Security, and Intelligence; (b) Trade, Investment, Transport, and Urban Development; (c) Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence; (d) Research, Science, Technology, and Innovation; and (e) Energy Transition, Green Economy and Climate. The full texts of the Joint Declaration and the Joint Work Plan are appended.

              Prime Minister Wong welcomed Germany’s growing interest in and engagement of ASEAN and its elevation to an ASEAN Sectoral Dialogue Partner this year. Both leaders agreed to work together to strengthen ties between ASEAN and the EU, including to work towards an eventual ASEAN-EU Free Trade Agreement. Both leaders also underscored that Singapore and Germany are like-minded and trusted partners, and will continue to work together to help uphold international law and a rules-based global order.

             Chancellor Merz called on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam. They reaffirmed the warm and longstanding relations between Singapore and Germany, and their growing relevance in the current geoeconomic climate. They noted the importance of mutual investments, and the need for a long view in economic cooperation. Both leaders also exchanged views on approaches to reform and remodel the rules-based multilateral system, and prospects for deeper links between Europe and ASEAN.

             Chancellor Merz was also hosted to a lunch by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong. They discussed regional developments in Europe and Asia, and agreed on the importance of Singapore and Germany collaborating with each other and other like-minded partners to strengthen multilateralism and tackle common challenges.

             Chancellor Merz delivered the 49^th Singapore Lecture by the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, titled “Germany and the Indo-Pacific: Partnership, Competitiveness, and Resilience in a Changing World” and chaired by Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo. He will be hosted to an Official Dinner by Prime Minister Wong in the evening.

             Chancellor Merz will depart Singapore on 28 October 2026.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

27 OCTOBER 2026

JOINT DECLARATION ON THE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

BETWEEN THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY

AND THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

2026

Singapore and Germany enjoy a longstanding and multi-faceted partnership. The relationship is underpinned by deep trust, a growing strategic convergence, and a shared commitment to multilateralism, a rules-based international order, and free trade. In 2024, both Germany and Singapore elevated our bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership. This has enabled us to work more closely to address common challenges, foster regional and international cooperation, and advance our shared interests. Building on these strong foundations, the Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore have reaffirmed their commitment to intensify cooperation under our Strategic Partnership.

Both leaders recognised the significant progress achieved under the Strategic Partnership’s Joint Work Plan for 2025/2026. They also acknowledged the shared objective of expanding bilateral cooperation into further areas to ensure that our partnership remains dynamic and forward-looking. They further reaffirmed their shared support for closer cooperation between ASEAN and Germany, including through the European Union.

To that end, both leaders endorsed a Joint Work Plan for 2027/2028 (Annex) which will guide our cooperation across five pillars, namely:

(a) Political, Defence, Security and Intelligence;

(b) Trade, Investment, Transport, and Urban Development;

(c) Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence;

(d) Research, Science, Technology, and Innovation;

(e) Energy Transition, Green Economy and Climate.

The respective Ministries will regularly review progress and the Foreign Ministries will coordinate adjustments to the Joint Work Plan, as appropriate, to ensure that our cooperation remains relevant, sustainable and future-oriented. The Foreign Ministers will provide strategic direction through regular consultations.

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Annex

Joint Work Plan 2027/2028

In line with the Singapore-Germany Strategic Partnership, both countries have agreed on the following Joint Work Plan 2027/2028 to intensify cooperation in key areas of mutual interest.

I. Political, Defence, Security, and Intelligence

1. Maintain regular high-level political engagements and visits across key areas of cooperation, reflecting the growing strategic convergence of interests between both countries.

2. Support efforts to further deepen Singapore and ASEAN’s relations with Germany and the European Union, including through Singapore’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2027.

3. Promote capacity-building in developing countries through the Singapore-Germany Third Country Training Programme.

4. Continue to deepen military-to-military cooperation and defence exchanges in the areas of digitalisation and cybersecurity, Research & Development/Innovation, Armament, Service and Maintenance. Explore and further intensify collaboration opportunities between the SAF and the Bundeswehr.

5. Continue to deepen homeland security partnership and collaboration in the areas of civil defence transformation, and operational cooperation. To explore collaboration in the areas of homeland security innovation and hybrid threats defence through improving cooperation in responding to threats against critical infrastructure, information sharing, and science and technology exchanges between relevant homeland security agencies and their research and technology counterparts.

6. Reaffirm our shared commitment to continuing our cooperation on cross-border security challenges that transcend geographic regions, as well as to strengthen multilateral frameworks, rules, norms, and cooperation mechanisms. With regard to the security and protection of critical infrastructure, including critical underwater infrastructure, we strive to build upon initiatives such as the Singapore-led Guiding Principles for Underwater Infrastructure Defence Exchanges “GUIDE” as well as bilateral and regional efforts, such as those in Europe and Southeast Asia.

7. Promote increased attention and the exchange of expertise in the field of hybrid threats. In doing so, we recognize the emergence of hostile hybrid threats and incidents and the need for an adequate response – including challenges regarding attribution, jurisdiction, and enforcement – in order to ensure security and resilience.

II. Trade, Investment, Transport, and Urban Development

1. Continue to deepen and encourage economic collaboration through the Germany-Singapore Framework for Sustainability and Innovation (FSI), including exchanges on issues of mutual interest such as economic security at the government-to-government level and other areas of economic cooperation at the government-to-business and business-to-business levels.

2. Cooperate bilaterally and with like-minded partners on meaningful WTO reform and to uphold, strengthen and develop further the open and rules-based international trading system with the WTO at its core, support the continued successful implementation of the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, explore better interlinkage of existing trade agreements, promote efforts to realise future inter-regional FTAs, inter alia between the EU and ASEAN, and to ambitiously deepen cooperation between the EU and the CPTPP with a view to translate the dialogue into practical and forward-looking cooperation on shared trade and investment priorities and to pave the way for even deeper inter-regional cooperation.

3. Promote greater trade and investment flows between Germany and Singapore, leveraging Singapore’s strength as a regional business and supply-chain management hub in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific, and Germany’s strength as a leading manufacturing economy in Europe, to support German and Singapore companies in accessing growth opportunities across ASEAN and Europe.

4. Promote the co-development of dual-use technologies and support start-ups in relevant sectors to enhance economic competitiveness.

5. Deepen the cooperation in matters of land transport, including on autonomous vehicles and electric vehicles.

6. Deepen cooperation on maritime digitalisation, such as through information exchange on autonomous vessels and efficient port calls and clearance between the ports of Germany and Singapore.

7. Encourage greater cooperation and sharing of knowledge between Singapore and German cities and their mayors, including through participation at the World Cities Summit and the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum.

III. Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence

1. Build on the 2026 EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement to support trusted cross-border data flows, strengthen digital connectivity, and facilitate end-to-end digital trade between the EU and ASEAN, with a view towards expanding and harnessing opportunities in the digital economy, including by working towards the finalisation of the ASEAN-EU Digital Trade Principles, and supporting ASEAN’s implementation of the Digital Economy Framework Agreement.

2. Facilitate a digital dialogue to strengthen digital cooperation in the areas of AI, digital governance, and other subjects of mutual interest.

3. Further expand and deepen our cooperation on civil cybersecurity, including the migration to quantum-safe cryptography, combatting ransomware and collaboration on standardisation and assurance of the technology.

4. Strengthen cooperation on AI safety, security and governance, including on testing and standards. This includes in particular cooperating on AI safety and security via our AI Safety and Security Institutes – namely the Singapore AISI and the AISI Deutschland.

5. Strengthen cooperation between Singapore and Germany in the fintech sector.

6. Continue dialogue on best practices and experiences with regard to the digitalisation of international legal assistance procedures in civil and commercial matters.

IV. Research, Science, Technology, and Innovation

1. Build on the Singapore – Germany Year of Innovation initiated in 2026 to strengthen bilateral cooperation in innovation, research and technology, leveraging existing bilateral and multilateral mechanisms (e.g. Singapore – Germany International Collaboration Call by A*STAR and the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, Germany – Singapore SME Funding Programme by Enterprise Singapore and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, and Eureka Network).

2. Work towards implementing joint innovation and R&D collaborations between Singapore and Germany’s R&D and startup ecosystems, including industry leaders, in areas of mutual interest such as Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace, Healthcare and Biomedical, Semiconductors, Quantum Technology, Green Chemistry, Circular Economy, Integrated Carbon Management, Renewable Energy Technologies, Space Technology and other emerging Deep Tech areas.

3. Strengthen cooperation in science and technology for public safety and security, including in areas such as AI, digitalisation, cybersecurity, engineering capabilities, and emerging technologies (such as quantum technologies and cryptography) through partnerships with relevant government agencies, industry players, and research institutions.

4. Deepen cooperation in supporting companies and research institutions in commercialising innovative technologies and research outcomes, and scaling them across ASEAN and the EU. 

5. Facilitate exchange and training of research, innovation and enterprise talent between Singapore and Germany.

V. Energy Transition, Green Economy and Climate

1. Strengthen the cooperation between Singapore and Germany on green maritime decarbonisation initiatives, including developments in zero and near-zero emissions fuels.

2. Engage in regular dialogues and deepen cooperation on climate and sustainability issues, including promoting a circular economy, climate finance and climate resilience.

3. Work towards facilitating cooperation in the development of technology to support the efficient distribution of renewable energy sources.

4. Support the development of the ASEAN Power Grid through commercial participation in renewable energy and grid interconnection projects, including through existing bilateral trade promotion platforms and industry networks, where relevant.

5. Deepen exchanges on initiatives that facilitate the low-carbon energy transition net zero transition and the adoption of renewable energy sources.

6. Create areas of cooperation on carbon pricing, including carbon tax, carbon credit agreements, and the development of decarbonisation technology.

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