‘Singapore has held its own internationally’: PM Lee on 20 years of overseas trips

BOGOR - Singapore has held its own on the international stage in the past 20 years and has secured its place on the global map by participating in discussions on many issues, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

He was in Bogor, West Java, for the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat, where he told Singapore media during an interview on April 29 that it was his last overseas trip as prime minister.

When asked for some reflections on the past two decades of meeting international leaders and representing Singapore, PM Lee noted how the Republic contributed to discussions on world issues.

“Over 20 years, Singapore has held its own internationally, we have managed to promote cooperation to contribute to discussions in many global forums,” he said.

Singapore has also played its part in addressing climate change, as well as in trade pacts like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

“Each one (has helped) to make ourselves useful, and therefore, securing our place in the world and giving us a little slightly bigger spot in the sun. And long may that continue,” added PM Lee.

The retreat on April 29, an annual tradition between Singapore and Indonesia, would be the last for PM Lee and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong is set to take over from PM Lee on May 15. Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, who won the country’s presidential election on Feb 14, will succeed Mr Widodo in October.

As to whether he would be making any official visits overseas after the handover, PM Lee answered in the affirmative, saying: “I just hope that the frequency of overseas visits will be less frequent than what there is now, but if necessary, of course I will try my best and do what I should do.”

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PM Lee said he was very glad that his last official overseas trip was to Indonesia.

He recalled how one of his first visits as prime minister was to the archipelago for the inauguration of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004.

In later years, he attended Dr Yudhoyono’s second inauguration in 2009, as well as the two times Mr Widodo was inaugurated in 2014 and 2019.

Ending his many overseas trips over the years with the seventh Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat on April 29 was something PM Lee said he was happy about, due to how uniquely memorable this was.

“I’m glad that I have been able to round up my so many overseas trips over the years with this one, which is memorable in its own special way because of the depth of the relations between our two countries and the significance this friendship holds for the prosperity and the stability of Singapore and of the region,” he said.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.