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Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with President Halimah Yacob and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the Istana on Jun. 2 for the 8th Singapore-Australia Annual Leaders' Meeting.
Official visit
Albanese is in Singapore from Jun. 1 to Jun. 3, where he meets various Singaporean leaders as part of the Singapore-Australia Annual Leaders' Meeting.
But PM Lee tested positive for Covid-19 again on Jun. 1, saying in a social media post that it was due to Covid rebound. As he was self-isolating, he would be unable to meet Albanese in person.
Lawrence Wong stood in for PM Lee as Acting PM, taking on the ceremonial duties of meeting and greeting Albanese, including taking part in the guard of honor ceremony.
Image via Anthony Albanese/Facebook
As is customary for official visits by state leaders, an orchid hybrid was named in his honor, the Dendrobium Anthony Albanese.
Image via Anthony Albanese/Facebook
Reaffirmed warm relations
The leaders reaffirmed the warm and long-standing relations between Singapore and Australia, paying special note to the close people-to people relations and robust trade links, reaffirming support for support for the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization at its core.
They noted the good progress for the Singapore-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and Wong expressed appreciation for Australia's support for Singapore's military training in Australia, as well as reaffirmed their commitment to the Five Power Defense Agreement.
Albanese will also be giving the keynote speech for the 2023 International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri La Dialogue in the evening of Jun. 2.
His speech will likely touch on the regional and geopolitical topics that he discussed with Wong during the leaders' meeting.
These include topics such as the continuing crises in Ukraine and Myanmar, as well as the "heightened geostrategic uncertainty and threats to the international rules-based order", and the "importance of an open, inclusive, rules-based and resilient Indo-Pacific region".
The leaders also said they looked forward to the 9th iteration of the annual meeting, which will take place in 2024 in Australia.
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Top image from Ministry of Communications and Information.