Transcript of Remarks by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at Joint Press Conference with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa

President Ramaphosa

Ladies and Gentlemen
 

Good afternoon everybody.
 

I thank the President for inviting me to visit South Africa, and for his very warm hospitality. President Ramaphosa is a good friend to Singapore. He visited in 2016 as Deputy President, and we last met in Bali in November on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. And I am very happy finally to have a chance to visit this beautiful country, and reconnect with the President.
 
When he visited Singapore in 2016, the President said that a brighter day was rising upon Africa, and he invited the people of Singapore to bask in its warmth with South Africa. And indeed, Singapore is happy to be partners in South Africa’s growth. South Africa is one of the largest economies on the continent, and a G20 member.

So we had a good discussion of our bilateral cooperation, and within the context of the global situation and the regional opportunities in Asia and in Africa. I thank the President for his briefing on his thoughts on the situation in Ukraine and his plans for a peace mission, together with other African leaders to Moscow and to Kiev in order to pursue or to encourage the parties to engage in ways to deescalate and work towards a peaceful outcome of the dispute.

I explained to the President, Singapore’s perspective on the war in Ukraine, and how we saw it as a matter of fundamental principle. That the UN Charter must be upheld, orders have to be sacrosanct, that one country cannot invade another with impunity. And it cannot be something, when it happens, it cannot be something which is acquiesced in or approved of, but a clear disapproval has to be given, which is why Singapore has taken such a stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine to oppose and to condemn it, at the United Nations as well as internationally, and taken targeted sanctions against Russia in this objective. It is a stand which is based on principle. It is a stand which we have taken regardless of who the aggressor is, and without meaning that we are hostile to the countries which are participants.

We remain friends with Russia. But we cannot approve of what has been done. In the same way as we are friends with America and have been for a very long time. But when America invaded Grenada in 1983, Singapore came out and voted against that at the United Nations and voted to condemn the invasion of Grenada. So it is a principled stand, and one intended to maintain a consistent foreign policy based on principles and to maintain agency and an independent line by Singapore in international affairs.

So I think we have a good understanding of one another and that is the overall framework within which we are able to pursue our bilateral cooperation.
 
In fact, bilaterally, South Africa is Singapore’s most broad-based partner in Sub-Saharan Africa.
 
Our partnership is underpinned by strong economic ties. Our bilateral trade has grown by over 60 percent since 2018. We have accumulated around 13.5 billion South African rand of investments in South Africa, which is nearly a billion Singapore dollars. And there are many Singapore companies here across a wide range of industries including agribusiness, urban solutions, hospitality, manufacturing, ports and logistics, and innovation and technology. I brought with me a business delegation comprising 17 Singapore companies to visit South Africa. They are keen to pursue opportunities and long-term partnerships with their counterparts here. And I look forward to the Business Roundtable which the  President and I will be holding this afternoon with South African and Singapore companies.
 
Our people-to-people ties are also very important. We have direct flight services between the two countries. We support each other to develop our human capital. Over 1,000 South African officials have participated in capacity-building programmes under the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP). And last year, we also launched the Singapore-Africa Partnership,  which includes priority placement, customised  courses, and postgraduate scholarships in Singapore. We hope our friends in Africa – including in South Africa – will find it relevant and we benefit from it.
 
We can still do much more to strengthen connectivity between our two countries. More flight services, more trade and investment, more digital links, more people-to-people ties.
 
We just signed, as you saw, two bilateral cooperation MOUs. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) MOU will enhance cooperation between our digital agencies; the Skills Development MOU will deepen our tradition of sharing experiences and best practices in education and in training.
 
This friendship has come a long way. In 1992, Mr Lee Kuan Yew visited South Africa. The following year, our two countries established diplomatic relations. Later that decade, in 1997, President Mandela visited Singapore. To commemorate that visit, we dedicated a Giant Cola tree to the President. The tree still stands tall and strong today, just like our friendship and cooperation continues to grow and strengthen. So I look forward to working with the President and his government to continue advancing our bilateral relationship. And the President has accepted my invitation to visit Singapore again, and I look forward to welcoming him to Singapore before too long.
 
Thank you very much.
 

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