PM Lee & Jokowi to witness signing of agreements on Jan. 25 at S’pore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat in Bintan

PM Lee's fifth Leaders' Retreat with Jokowi.

Faris Alfiq | January 24, 2022, 06:00 PM

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PM Lee Hsien Loong will be visiting the island of Bintan in Indonesia on Tuesday (Jan. 25) to attend the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders' Retreat hosted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi.

According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), both PM Lee and Jokowi will review the progress made on bilateral cooperation since the last retreat, and discuss ways to expand collaboration in key areas of priority for both countries.

They will also exchange views on regional and global developments.

Previous retreat held in Singapore

This is PM Lee's fifth Leaders' Retreat with Jokowi.

The last Leaders' Retreat was held in Singapore in October 2019.

During the last retreat, PM Lee declared that bilateral relations between the two countries are in "good shape", and is "deep, multi-faceted and forward-looking".

Set of agreements will be signed

At this year's Leaders' Retreat, both leaders will witness the signing and exchange of a set of agreements negotiated on the basis of the "Framework for Discussions", which were announced during the previous Singapore-Indonesia Leaders' Retreat in 2019.

These agreements are:

  • an Agreement on the Realignment of the Boundary between the Jakarta Flight Information Region (FIR) and the Singapore FIR;
  • a Treaty for the Extradition of Fugitives; and
  • a 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

An Exchange of Letters will also be undertaken to bring the above agreements into force simultaneously.

MOU on green economy, energy cooperation will be signed

According to PMO, beyond the set of agreements, both leaders will also endorse the announcement of several Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) signed ahead of the retreat.

The MOUs include financial and economic cooperation, green and circular economy development, energy cooperation, and human capital development.

During the retreat, PM Lee will be accompanied by Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam, Minister for Transport S Iswaran and Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng.

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Top image screenshot via PMO/YouTube