Visit By Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan to the Republic of Palau for the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting 31 August to 1 September 2026

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan is visiting Palau to attend the 55^th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting (PIFLM).

Minister Balakrishnan delivered remarks at the PIF Leaders Dialogue with Dialogue Partners on 1 September 2026. He underscored Singapore’s longstanding partnership with the Pacific and our shared interests and perspectives as fellow small island states. He reaffirmed Singapore’s commitment to supporting the Pacific’s priorities through practical capacity building and knowledge-sharing. Minister Balakrishnan also announced the next phase of the Singapore-Pacific Resilience and Knowledge Sharing (SPARKS) package, which will be extended to 2029, as well as the extension of the “SIDS of Change” package to 2028. The renewed packages will provide capacity-building programmes in areas including leadership and governance, financial management, artificial intelligence for governance and public service transformation.  A factsheet on the two packages is at Annex A. The transcript of Minister Balakrishnan’s remarks at the PIF Leaders Dialogue with Dialogue Partners is at Annex B.

During his visit, Minister Balakrishnan met Pacific leaders, including Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, Tonga Prime Minister Lord Fatafehi Fakāfanua, Samoa Deputy Prime Minister Mulipola Anarosa Ale Molio'o, Tuvalu Minister for Foreign Affairs, Labour and Trade Paulson Panapa, Fiji Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade Sakiasi Ditoka, Tonga Minister for His Majesty's Diplomatic Services His Royal Highness Crown Prince Tupoutoʻa ʻUlukalala, New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters, Australia Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen and Naoero Special Envoy Minister Charmaine Scotty. They exchanged views on regional and international developments, the Pacific’s priorities, and opportunities to strengthen Singapore’s cooperation with the Pacific.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

1 SEPTEMBER 2026 

Annex A

FACTSHEET ON THE SINGAPORE-PACIFIC RESILIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING (SPARKS) AND “SIDS OF CHANGE” PACKAGES

At the 55^th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting on 1 September 2026, Singapore Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan reaffirmed Singapore’s commitment to supporting Pacific capacity building in priority areas identified in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.

Minister Balakrishnan announced the next phases of the Singapore-Pacific Resilience and Knowledge Sharing (SPARKS) and “SIDS of Change” packages. The packages will be delivered under the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), through which Singapore has trained more than 6,700 Pacific officials since 1992. 

Singapore - Pacific Resilience and Knowledge Sharing (SPARKS) package

The next phase of the SPARKS package will run from January 2027 to December 2029 and will support mid-to-senior level Pacific officials through courses on:

• Leadership and Governance, covering issues such as digital transformation and sustainable development; and

• Financial Management & Macroeconomic Fundamentals, delivered in partnership with the International Monetary Fund Singapore Regional Training Institute (IMF-STI) and the International Monetary Fund Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre (IMF-PFTAC).

Renewed “SIDS of Change” package

The renewed “SIDS of Change” package will run from April 2027 to March 2029 and will support mid-to-senior level officials from Small Island Developing States (SIDS) through:

• Customised courses on AI for Governance and Public Service Transformation;

• Continued civil aviation and maritime fellowships; and

• Priority places for SIDS officials in SCP courses.

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Annex B

TRANSCRIPT OF MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS DR VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN’S REMARKS AT THE 55^TH PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM LEADERS DIALOGUE WITH DIALOGUE PARTNERS

TUESDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2026

Thank you Mr President

Excellencies

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is great to be back here, amongst friends. I congratulate Palau on assuming the Chairmanship of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and commend the Solomon Islands for your stewardship of the Forum during what has been a very challenging year.

2        We meet at a dangerous time for small states. The world is becoming more volatile, more violent, and strategic competition is intensifying, often at our expense. The Middle East conflict, the fuel crisis, has shown very starkly how events far away can quickly reach our shores. And climate change remains a pressing fundamental challenge for the long term for each and every one of us who is an island state.

3        We cannot choose the world we live in, but we can strengthen our internal resilience nationally, we can extend our hands to partnerships across our boundaries, and we must insist that we have collective agency. Singapore is working with the Pacific in this spirit.

4        First, Singapore supports a strong and Pacific-led regional architecture. As strategic interest in the Pacific grows, it is obvious that external engagement should support Pacific priorities and strengthen Pacific regionalism. We don’t want the Pacific to be an arena for proxy contest. Our experience in Southeast Asia has shown the value of ASEAN Centrality: by building a strong regional core, we can engage major powers while retaining our agency, retaining strategic choice and options, and shaping our own regional agenda.

5        As Singapore’s first Foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam said at the founding of ASEAN, drawing on Benjamin Franklin, “If we do not hang together, we will all hang separately.” I think this conundrum that confronted ASEAN also confronts Pacific Islands Forum. So it is more crucial than ever for our two regions to work together to advance our shared priorities, including climate change, connectivity, sustainable development, economic and strategic relevance. So we look forward to bringing ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum closer, especially next year when Singapore assumes Chairmanship of ASEAN.

6        My second point is that we must continue to invest in our people and building up our own local institutions. Since 1992, nearly 10,000 Pacific officials have participated in the Singapore Cooperation Programme and its related programmes. We have conducted more than 90 customised programmes and study visits tailored for the Pacific Islands. In 2023, when we attended the PIF Leaders Meeting as a Dialogue Partner for the first time, we launched the Singapore-Pacific Resilience and Knowledge Sharing programme. We call it SPARKS for short.

7        I am pleased to announce that we are moving on to the next phase of SPARKS, and we will focus on Leadership and Governance, Financial Management and Macroeconomic Fundamentals, together with the support and collaboration of partners including the International Monetary Fund (IMF). We will also extend our “SIDS of Change” package for another two years to 2028, focusing especially on Artificial Intelligence for Governance, and Public Service Transformation, while continuing our work in civil aviation and maritime fellowships. In addition, Singapore’s state-owned global investment company Temasek, and our sovereign wealth fund GIC, have been working with the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) to share knowledge on investment governance and fund management. We are also working with the PRF to explore green and sustainable financing. These are practical ways in which we can work together.

8        My third point is that Singapore will continue to advocate for the interests of small states everywhere, and for an international order grounded in international law. We need it more than others. We were part of the Core Group that advanced Vanuatu’s initiative for the ICJ Advisory Opinion on climate change. We supported the UN resolution welcoming the Advisory Opinion. Ambassador Rena Lee delivered Singapore’s oral statement during the proceedings in 2024. And Ambassador Lee also led the BBNJ negotiations, which culminated in an Agreement that was adopted by consensus in 2023. I don’t need to remind you how difficult it is to arrive at consensus, much less at the global level. Ambassador Rena Lee is now Singapore’s candidate for the election to the ICJ. We are heartened by the strong support for her candidature from across the Pacific. We thank the Pacific Islands for your very strong support for her.

9        But in addition to international law, open markets, reliable global supply chains and the flow of essential goods are critical for our security and our agency. And that is why, when supply chains come under pressure as they did recently, you would have noticed that Singapore committed not to impose any unjustified export restrictions on fuel products. And we discovered to our slight surprise that in fact, we were providing refined products to many of the states in the PIF.

10      So Excellencies, my final point, we are small, but size does not dictate our fate, and size should not limit our agency. We gain agency when our people and institutions are strong, our regions are cohesive, and when international rules and law are respected.

11      So Singapore looks forward to continuing our close cooperation with all our partners across this region. Ke kmal mesaul, thank you all very much.

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