Singapore
The governments of Singapore and Saudi Arabia have vowed to further strengthen their bilateral cooperation in various fields including economics, trade, investment, financial services, education, scientific research and politics.
The message had been highlighted during Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud's six-day official visit to Singapore at the invitation of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. On the political front, bilateral relations between Singapore and Saudi Arabia have grown significantly as Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar have visited the Middle Eastern kingdom separately.
The Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries on signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on annual bilateral talks and consultations. Reiterating their common ground on various international issues, "both sides expressed their determination for continuing counter- terrorism cooperation to uproot terrorism as it constitutes a threat to world peace and stability," said a joint press statement issued by the two governments.
The two countries agreed to work together to promote peace and dialogue among nations and peoples based on mutual respect. Along with the warm political ties, the economic and trade relations between Singapore and Saudi Arabia have also been strengthened. Saudi Arabia is Singapore's largest trading partner in the Middle East with bilateral trade growing by over 50 percent to reach 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2005. It is also Singapore's largest foreign investor from the Middle East.
The two countries signed a General Agreement on Cooperation ( GAC), paving the way for their closer economic collaboration. The two sides inked an investment guarantee agreement to protect and increase investment flows between them, and signed an MOU on Trade Cooperation which enables Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry to exchange expertise and experience in areas such as export development and promotion, economic statistics, development of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as competition policies.
To further engage Singapore businesses in its economic development process, Saudi Arabia opened a representative office of its General Investment Authority (SAGIA) in Singapore recently and the two countries are working towards forming a Joint Saudi-Singapore Business Council.
The planned projects in the King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia have been identified as one of
the potential areas for mutual cooperation. It is estimated that Saudi Arabia will spend some 624 billion U. S. dollars on various projects in the next 15 years. The two nations also agreed to cooperate in fields like energy, education, and technology transfer, with water treatment in particular.