PM Wong & M'sia PM Anwar Ibrahim to meet in S'pore for 12th Annual Leaders' Retreat

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will visit Singapore on Dec. 4 for the 12th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat.

Anwar, who is also Malaysia’s finance minister, will meet Singapore’s PM and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong to take stock of bilateral cooperation, to consider new ways to collaborate and provide guidance on how to take the bilateral relationship forward.

Delegations

PM Wong will host Anwar to lunch, after which Singapore and Malaysia’s delegations will meet.

The Singapore delegation will comprise:

• Deputy Prime Minister and Trade and Industry Minister, Gan Kim Yong
• Coordinating Minister for National Security and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam
• Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan
• Sustainability and Environment Minister and Minister-in-Charge of Trade Relations, Grace Fu
• Manpower Minister and Minister-in-Charge of Energy and Science & Technology, Tan See Leng
• National Development Minister, Chee Hong Tat
• Acting Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim
• Acting Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow

The Malaysian delegation will include:

• Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Transformation & Water Transformation Minister Fadillah Yusof
• Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamad Hasan
• Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook
• Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution
• Second Finance Minister Amir Hamzah Azizan
• Sarawak Premier Abang Johari
• Johor Chief Minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi

During the leaders' retreat, both PMs are expected to witness the exchange of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on areas of mutual interest such as health cooperation and the fight against drugs. 

These MOUs are expected to broaden bilateral cooperation and increase exchanges between both sides.

Second annual (for 2025)

The annual Leaders’ Retreat is the key platform for the Singapore-Malaysia bilateral relationship, with each country taking it in turn to host the retreat.

It serves as the highest-level mechanism for both countries to review the progress of bilateral cooperation, discuss regional and international issues of mutual concern, as well as to explore new opportunities to strengthen the bilateral partnership.

This is actually the second Leaders’ Retreat held in 2025, with 2024’s retreat delayed to January this year after PM Wong caught Covid-19.

PM Wong and Anwar have also met several times this year, usually on the sidelines of multilateral summits such as Asean.

Singapore and Malaysia's leaders have attended several such events at the same time, most recently the G20 summit in South Africa, and APEC in South Korea.

Top image via Anwar Ibrahim/Facebook