Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (left) meeting Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Dec 16, ahead of the Asean-Japan Commemorative Summit. - The Straits Times/ANN
TOKYO: Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Dec 16 welcomed the deepening ties between their countries with a new pact to promote digital and green practices in shipping.
Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) will work with six of Japan’s busiest ports on trials to decarbonise and digitise the maritime industry, under the so-called Green and Digital Shipping Corridor.
Lee told Kishida in opening remarks that while Singapore has been cooperating with Japan in many areas, he looked forward to doing “many more things together”, especially in the digital and green sectors.
PM Lee is in Tokyo to attend three days of festivities, starting on Dec 16, to mark 50 years of Asean-Japan relations. He said Asean considers Japan a “very important relationship” and looks forward to deepening friendship and cooperation between the two sides even further.
Ahead of their half-century commemorative summit, Asean and Japan upgraded their ties to the highest-tier Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in September.
Singapore will take over from Thailand as Asean’s country coordinator for Japan for three years starting from July 2024. Come 2026, Singapore and Japan will celebrate 60 years of bilateral ties.
Kishida told Lee that Japan was keen to increase cooperation with Singapore and the rest of Asean to “maintain and strengthen a free and open international order based on the rule of law, and to ensure a world where human dignity is protected”, noting that the world “is standing at a turning point in history”.
Both leaders affirmed the longstanding and excellent bilateral relations while also emphasising the importance of upholding a rules-based international order, a statement by Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The statement added that the two leaders discussed how their countries could expand and deepen cooperation in areas of mutual interest, ranging from the future economy, digitalisation, sustainability and energy, as well as security.
A readout by Japan’s Foreign Ministry said that during their 20-minute meeting, Mr Kishida also broached topics such as start-ups and supply chain resilience, on top of digitalisation and sustainability.
The memorandum of cooperation on the Green and Digital Shipping Corridor, which was signed on Dec 16 by Singapore’s Acting Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat and Japan’s Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito, was described by Singapore’s Transport Ministry as a “milestone collaboration”.
Japan is one of Singapore’s top 10 trading partners, with a bilateral trade volume of $65 billion in 2022, the ministry noted, adding that their agreement aims to “develop standards and best practices supporting the decarbonisation, digitalisation and growth of the maritime industry”.
On the decarbonisation front, this will involve pilot projects to test the use of zero- or near-zero-emission fuels such as ammonia and hydrogen. And on digitalisation, the port authorities will look into ways to streamline port clearance processes, as well as exchange information and best practices to mitigate maritime cyber-security risks.
Singapore’s MPA will work with ports in Tokyo, Yokohama and Kawasaki in eastern Japan, Osaka and Kobe in western Japan, and Nagoya in central Japan. As key nodes for Japan’s major economic regions, the six ports handled a total of about 57 million tonnes of cargo in 2020.
In a lighter moment during the meeting with Kishida, Lee broached the delicate subject of the 2025 Osaka World Expo. The event has been plagued with delays, a ballooning budget and flagging public support in Japan.
But Singapore is set to be one of the first foreign countries to start building its pavilion, The Straits Times has reported.
“I’d like to report to the Prime Minister that we are about to start work and break ground to work on our pavilion at Osaka,” Lee said, to laughter.
“I hope when the exhibition is on, that the Prime Minister will be able to visit our Singapore pavilion.” - The Straits Times/ANN
