DURING his official visit to Singapore on 14th and 15th January 2018, Czech Prime Minister, HE Andrej Babiš, was feted with a Welcome Ceremony, followed by a dinner later on at the Istana, which was hosted for him by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. PM Lee thanked the Czech Republic for its strong support for the European-Union Singapore Free Trade Agreement signed last October. Mr Babiš also called on President Halimah Yacob and they reaffirmed the warm and friendly relations as well as the growing economic exchanges between the two countries.
The next day the Czech Prime Minister delivered the keynote address at the Singapore-Czech Republic Business Forum and had visited the Centre of Excellence for Testing & Research of Autonomous Vehicles – Nanyang Technological University (CETRAN) and had an orchid named in his honour during his visit to the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
During his visit he gave an interview to the press expressing his wish to see the Czech Embassy re-open here as Singapore is a major regional trade and financial hub. Another area of interest is the re-establishing of direct flights between both countries. He also had discussed with the Singapore PM more collaborations that included areas such as trade, technology and research as well as ties between both countries’ institutes of higher learning. Mr Babiš was accompanied by the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, HE Ms Marta Nováková and a 38-member business delegation. The country is the 14th largest trading partner with Singapore in Europe with with bilateral trade to the tune of $1.15 billion in 2017.
