Remarks by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan at the Korea-Singapore AI Connect Summit, 2 March 2026

Transcript of Remarks by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan at the Korea-Singapore AI Connect Summit, Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, Monday 2 March 2026

Your Excellency, President Lee Jae Myung,

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, Mr Bae Kyung-hoon,

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cho Hyun,

Minister for SMEs and Startups, Ms Han Seong-sook,

Distinguished guests, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to attend the AI Connect Summit hosted by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT.

Once again, I want to bid a very warm welcome to President Lee and his delegation.

President Lee had a very busy morning. We met President Tharman Shanmugaratnam as well as my Prime Minister, Mr Lawrence Wong.

And I can let you in on a state secret: AI was very high on the agenda.

Both Singapore and the Republic of Korea see AI as a transformative force for our future.

For Singapore, AI can help transcend our constraints as a small city-state without natural resources, and will help us to capitalise on our position as a trusted, connected, global hub.

South Korea has a considerable innovation ecosystem, which will drive AI development. We see South Korea as one of the world’s foremost tech powerhouses. President Lee has announced the goal of making South Korea one of the world’s top three AI powers and I believe South Korea will succeed in fulfilling that ambition.

We both recognise the potential to address common challenges confronting both our societies, including aging populations, shrinking workforces, and evolving job markets.

But both South Korea and Singapore also believe in the importance of a trusted AI ecosystem.

For South Korea and Singapore, our advantage does not necessarily lie in building the largest or the latest frontier large language models (LLMs), but in the deployment and adoption of AI extensively, responsibly, effectively and across the entire society. That’s how you get inclusive development, which I know President Lee is very focused on.

This requires collaboration between policymakers, industry, and the scientific community. Singapore sees itself as a trusted hub where companies can develop, test, and deploy impactful AI solutions.

More than 60 firms, including global leaders like Google and Microsoft, have set up AI centres of excellence in Singapore. These help to create good jobs. They also attract other companies with expertise in AI, telecommunications and manufacturing.

I am also glad that there are South Korean companies with significant AI operations in Singapore, including the Elice Group, which is here with us. In fact, they have a display just outside the room. And we welcome other South Korean companies who are looking to expand their footprint in Southeast Asia – take the first step in Singapore.

Let me suggest three specific areas where the Republic of Korea and Singapore can consider. First, develop trusted supply chains. Second, to help in the formulation of interoperable global standards for AI and, third, interoperable AI systems.

On the first part, trusted AI supply chains – from data, to code, to deployment, to monitoring, we believe that this both accelerates innovation as well as strengthens accountability and trust.

Interoperable standards are essential so that the world can work collectively on a common application stack, and to help to accelerate research, innovation, and progress in AI, as a whole. Interoperable systems will ensure that as new and innovative services and products are created, they can work across borders and also have access to a global market.

I think, in these three areas of trusted supply chains, interoperable standards, and interoperable systems, the Republic of Korea and Singapore can play a meaningful role.

Each of these areas requires mutual trust between the Republic of Korea and Singapore. We have upgraded our relationship to a Strategic Partnership, and we believe that you are an optimal and ideal partner for us. Our agreements on AI and digital cooperation, which were signed in 2022 and 2025 respectively, established a shared vision for us to cooperate in transparent and accountable AI systems.

On Singapore’s part, we know that we are taking a coordinated national effort. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong himself has established the National AI Council to provide strategic direction to drive Singapore’s AI agenda. Prime Minister Wong himself is in charge of this Council.

The Singapore Government is also investing over a billion Singapore dollars between 2025 to 2030 under the National AI Research and Development plan, which will focus on both fundamental and applied AI research, and AI talent development.

We hope to work with and to leverage South Korea’s strength and expertise in these sectors to create mutual synergies. So, today’s summit is a meaningful step in the right direction. It is more than a meeting of minds. It represents us building a bridge; a bridge between two innovative ecosystems – Singapore’s role as a trusted hub in the heart of Southeast Asia, South Korea’s technological leadership.

I believe this creates powerful opportunities for collaboration. So, Mr President, we will work as Strategic Partners to push the boundaries of what is possible. We will harness AI for the good of all people, not just for our two countries, but for the world.

I look forward to fruitful and meaningful discussions later, this afternoon. Thank you all very much.

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