SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): With the external conditions that have underpinned Singapore’s past success coming apart, the country is taking active steps internationally to shape its own destiny, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
These include a potential free trade deal between Asean and the European Union, greater Asean integration, and more collaboration with its closest neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia, he said in a video message on April 25.
“We are now in the midst of the election campaign, but the work of governing Singapore does not stop,” he said. “My team and I will never stop working – for you and for Singapore.”
PM Wong said that in a changed world, his team’s mission is clear: to steer Singapore through the storm, and secure a brighter future for Singaporeans.
Singapore is headed to the polls on May 3, amid economic uncertainties such as the United States’ “Liberation Day” tariff hikes that have roiled global markets. The hustings are also the first for PM Wong as both prime minister and PAP secretary-general.
In a four-minute message posted on his official YouTube channel, PM Wong said Singapore may be too small to influence global developments, but it is certainly not helpless.
“We can take active steps to shape our own destiny,” he said, noting that Singapore is far more capable and more connected today than at its independence.
The Singapore brand is well regarded, with the country enjoying a deep reservoir of international goodwill, he said. Many like-minded countries also share Singapore’s desire to uphold an open, stable and rules-based global system.
In his recent discussions with leaders from Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand, the EU and the United Kingdom, they agreed that while the US may be turning inwards, other countries need not follow, said PM Wong.
Instead, there was consensus on strengthening trade and investment links with one another, he said, starting with Singapore’s closest neighbours.
PM Wong said Singapore plans to do more on energy and food security with Indonesia. These areas of cooperation were discussed during his introductory visit to Jakarta in November 2024, when he met Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.
With Malaysia, major projects such as the Johor Bahru–Singapore Rapid Transit System Link and the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) are in the works. PM Wong noted that Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong had just attended an investment forum for the SEZ in Johor Bahru on April 21.
Asean integration will also be strengthened, with the aim of making the regional grouping completely tariff-free and with lower non-tariff barriers.
“We will grow intra-Asean trade and investments and enhance cooperation in new areas like the digital economy,” he said.
Through Asean, Singapore will engage other major players such as China, India, South Korea and Japan, as well as Gulf countries in the Middle East.
One key player is the EU, and PM Wong said he had a good discussion with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen a week earlier.
Asean and the EU have a strategic partnership, and the EU also has free trade agreements with Singapore and Vietnam. “Our two regions can do more together, and we can take concrete steps towards an Asean-EU FTA,” he said.
Another idea is to work through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, which was known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership before the US pulled out early in President Donald Trump’s first term, in 2017.
The CPTPP has been growing – the UK has joined, and several economies like Indonesia have expressed interest in doing so, noted PM Wong.
If the CPTPP forms a partnership with the EU, they will together account for 30 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product even without the US, he added.
“We will stay nimble and look out for new opportunities,” he said. “In this changed world, our mission is clear: to steer Singapore through the storm, and secure a brighter future for you.” - The Straits Times/ANN
