Three significant agreements were reached at the Retreat and both leaders satisfied with state of bilateral ties and progress in various joint projects
UPDATED 2nd Feb 2022: Highlights of Leaders’ Remarks in Joint Press Conference
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Bintan, Indonesia, on 25 January 2022 to attend the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. This is the Prime Minister Lee’s fifth Leaders’ Retreat with the Indonesian President, following the Leaders’ Retreat in October 2019, which was held in Singapore.
Prime Minister Lee and President Joko Widodo reviewed the progress made on bilateral cooperation since the last Leaders’ Retreat and discussed ways to expand collaboration in key areas of priority for both countries. They also exchanged views on regional and global developments.
During the Leaders’ Retreat, Prime Minister Lee and President Joko Widodo also witnessed the signing and exchange of a set of agreements negotiated on the basis of the ‘Framework for Discussions’ announced at the Leaders’ Retreat in 2019 (see accompanying box story below).
Framework Agreements on…
+ Realignment of the Boundary between the Jakarta Flight Information Region (FIR) and the Singapore FIR
+ Treaty for the Extradition of Fugitives
+ Joint Statement between the Defence Ministers on the 2007 Defence Cooperation Agreement and its Implementing Arrangement between the Singapore Armed Forces and the Indonesian Armed Forces (now referred to as “the Indonesian National Defence Forces”) for the Military Training Area in Indonesia.
There was also an Exchange of Letters undertaking to bring the above agreements into force simultaneously.
The Leaders also endorsed the announcement of several Memorandums of Understanding (MOU), signed ahead of the Retreat, including in financial and economic cooperation, green and circular economy development, energy cooperation, and human capital development.
Prime Minister Lee was accompanied by Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam, Minister for Transport S Iswaran, and Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Dr Tan See Leng.
Highlights of Leaders’ Remarks in Joint Press Conference
Both leaders noted the excellent level of bilateral and robust economic ties. On their agenda were discussions on ways to build on the success of projects such as the Kendal Industrial Park and the Nongsa Digital Park (NDP). They welcomed the launch of the Nongsa Digital Town (D-Town) in Batam as the next phase of NDP’s development. They also recently signed MOUs on Financial and Economic Cooperation between the Singapore Ministry of Finance and Indonesian Ministry of Finance, and the MOU between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank Indonesia to expand cooperation across central banking, financial regulation and payments innovation would also encourage more multi-faceted and forward-looking institutional linkages in developing both countries’ digital economies.
For the full text of the speeches given by the Leaders
+ For transcript of President Jokowi remarks (translated into English) click here
+ For transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong click here
