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Australian and Singapore government officials have announced their intention to cooperate on food and energy security, as well as digital collaboration.
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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles travelled to the recent Australia-Singapore Joint Ministerial Committee meeting earlier this month on 3 December with Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Penny Wong and Minister for Trade and Tourism Senator Don Farrell.
Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, speaking during a media conference at the meeting, confirmed both countries are in discussions regarding securing food and energy security.
“We have been working on several fronts. One of them is energy security ... specifically on natural gas, we continue to import from Australia. Australia continues to be an important source of natural gas for us,” he said.
“At the same time, we also looking at hydrogen as an alternative, and Australia has the ambition to be a hydrogen supply centre. And we are also exploring the use of hydrogen and ammonia as hydrogen derivatives. Some of you may know that we do have a pilot project on hydrogen as for both power generation as well as bunkering fuel. This is an area of new energy that we are exploring with Australia.
“At the same time, we’re also looking at the development of digital and green shipping corridors within Singapore and Australia and seeing how we can link up the green maritime, sustainable maritime strategy.
“We are also looking at the alternative low carbon solutions such as carbon capture and storage. And this is an area that I think we have been working with Australia to explore the possibility of carbon capture and storage in Australian sites that we are exploring at the moment.
“Beyond energy, we are also looking at the digital collaboration. As you know, we are, we have a digital economy agreement between Singapore and Australia, and this has gone in a big way, in facilitating digital trade, or digital documentation for trade. We are looking at how we can further expand the collaboration in the digital economy, including artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence, particularly in the development of guided guardrails and guidelines on the development of AI systems.
“We are also looking at the food security as one area. And as you know, we have chilled chicken importer from Australia, and we continue to explore the possibility of importing other food supplies from Australia, particularly in times of emergency, in times of a critical shortage. We want to see how we can work together to ensure continuity of supply.”
Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, speaking at the same conference, confirmed the joint plan.
“The closeness of our two countries across fields of security, diplomacy and in the economy, and it is a relationship which is very deep, where there are very strong people-to-people links, but a phrase that we’ve kept returning to throughout our discussions today is that it’s a relationship which is underpinned by deep strategic trust,” Minister Marles said.
“Both our countries have agreed to pursue opportunities for increased access in respect of both of our defence facilities. This is a very significant step forward in what is already a broad and unique relationship.
“The level of training which occurs on the part of the Singapore defence forces in Australia is really unparalleled for both of our countries. This year, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of fast jet training at RAAF Base Pearce at Perth.
“In a difficult world, we understand that this is a moment to double down with friends, and that is the description of Australia and Singapore. We are the closest of friends, and we intend to see that reflected in next year’s CSP.
“The meeting today gave us a real sense of optimism about what we are seeking to do in the course of next year. And so we finish today with excitement about the future of our relationship and excitement about what will be contained in the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that will be signed by our two leaders next year.”
