Opening Remarks by Minister-in-charge of Energy and Science & Technology in the Ministry of Trade and Industry Dr Tan See Leng at the signing ceremony for the Energy, Sustainability and Climate Change Cooperation Framework

1.   Good morning, ohayo gozaimasu. 

2.   I am very happy to meet Your Excellency Minister Akazawa, particularly this year, as Singapore and Japan celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations. 

3.   I am also here two days ahead of my Prime Minister. I will be joining him during his visit here. 

4.   We have very good and significant diplomatic ties, and thank you for co-organising the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum (IPEM), which could not have happened at a better time. 

5.   We are very heartened and reassured by the leadership shown by your Government, and also working with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the G7, in releasing the stockpile reserves. Earlier this morning at the Ministerial dialogue, where Ministers have come up to talk about reassuring, particularly the Indo-Pacific, in terms of the supply of gas and fuel – it is very reassuring for small economies like us. 

6.   Both Singapore and Japan have extensive economic relationships. In 2024, both Japan and Singapore were each other’s fourth largest source of foreign direct investments. Singapore hosts over 5,300 Japanese companies, many of which use Singapore as the Asia-Pacific headquarters, as well as a base for innovation, talent, and leadership development. 

7.   Singapore companies remain very upbeat and optimistic about the Japanese market. For example, GIC has recently announced that it intends to grow its staff here in Japan by nearly 50% over the next three years. 

8.   Minister Akazawa, at many multilateral forums, whether it is at ASEAN, RCEP, CPTPP, APEC as well as the WTO, we work very closely together to uphold and open rules-based multilateral trading systems. Thank you for your support in these forums. 

9.   At this meeting, and at my Prime Minister’s visit to your Prime Minister on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I hope that we can bring our partnership to the next level, where we can look at closer ties in energy collaboration and cooperation in supply chain reinforcement, particularly in these difficult times, together with economic resilience, as well as space. 

10.   Arigatou gozaimasu.