THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Year of establishment of diplomatic relations: 1966

Recent Bilateral Highlights

2010

• Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Washington DC and Chicago in April 2010. The visit was in conjunction with Prime Minister Lee¡¯s attendance of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC. While in Washington DC, Prime Minister Lee met with several key personalities in the Obama Administration, Congress and the business community. In Chicago, PM met with local political and business leaders as well as the Singaporean community in Illinois.

• Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean visited Washington DC and San Diego in March 2010. While in Washington DC, Deputy Prime Minister Teo met several key personalities in the Administration such as Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and National Security Advisor James Jones.

• The Second Singapore-US Strategic Dialogue, co-organized by the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the Centre for New American Security, was held in Singapore in January 2010.

• Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security Jane Lute called on Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Professor S. Jayakumar during her visit to Singapore in January 2010.

• Senator Christopher Samuel "Kit" Bond (R-Missouri), visited Singapore in January 2010. During his visit, Bond called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

2009

• President Barack Obama met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Singapore in November 2009. Separately, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk called on Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang on the sidelines of the APEC Ministerial Meeting.

• Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew visited New York City and Washington DC in October 2009. During his visit, MM called on President Barack Obama and met with several key personalities, such as Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank Ben Bernanke and President of the World Bank Robert Zoellick.

• The Governor of Mississippi Hayley Barbour visited Singapore in October 2009. During his visit to Singapore, Barbour called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and was hosted to lunch by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo.

• Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) called on Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew during a visit in August 2009.

• The Governor of Alabama Bob Riley visited Singapore in June 2009 and was hosted to lunch by Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang.

• US Defence Secretary Robert Gates called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean while in Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue in May 2009. US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg also attended the Shangri-La Dialogue, where he called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and was hosted to lunch by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo.

• Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo visited the US in April 2009. During the trip, Minister Yeo met with several key US personalities including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, Director of National Intelligence Admiral (Ret) Dennis Blair and US Trade Representative Ambassador Ron Kirk.

• A US Congressional Staffers Delegation (STAFFDEL) visited Singapore in April 2009. The STAFFDEL called on Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo and attended briefings by various agencies/Ministries to give them a better understanding of Singapore¡¯s economic, political and social development.

• President and CEO of the US Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Richard Fisher, visited Singapore in April 2009. While in Singapore, Fisher met with Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and was hosted to meals by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

2008

• US Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia) visited Singapore in December 2008. During his visit, Senator Webb met Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, and was hosted to lunch separately by Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean and Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo.

• The inaugural Singapore-US Strategic Dialogue, co-organized by the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the Centre for New American Security, was held in Washington DC in October 2008.

• US Secretary of Labour Elaine Chao visited Singapore in August 2008. During her visit, Secretary Chao attended a lunch hosted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and called on Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Acting Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong. Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo also hosted lunch for Secretary Chao and her delegation.

• A US Congressional Delegation (CODEL) comprising members of the House Committee on Transport and Infrastructure in August 2008. The delegation was led by Representative Jerry Costello (Democrat-Illinois), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation. The CODEL called on Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo and Minister for Transport (also Second Minister for Foreign Affairs) Raymond Lim and visited the port.

• US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference and the 15th ASEAN Regional Forum in July 2008. At a bilateral meeting held on the sidelines of the PMC/ARF, both Minister Yeo and Secretary Rice reaffirmed the strong relationship between Singapore and the United States, and reaffirmed the importance of good ASEAN-US cooperation. They also discussed regional issues, including developments in Asia and ASEAN.

• US Defence Secretary Robert Gates called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean while in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue in May 2008.

Bilateral Relations

Singapore and the United States share a close, long-standing, and multifaceted relationship, predicated on broad convergent strategic interests in Asia and globally. Singapore enjoys strong defence, economic and political ties with the US, underpinned by the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement that came into force on 1 January 2004 and the Strategic Framework Agreement signed in July 2005. The relationship has broadened to include new areas such as information technology, health, education and the fight against terrorism. Bilateral relations have remained stable and positive under the current Administration of US President Barack Obama.

CANADA

Year of establishment of diplomatic relations: 1965

Recent Bilateral Highlights

• Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Singapore to attend the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting (AELM) in November 2009. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon and Minister for International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, Stockwell Day, also attended the APEC Ministerial Meeting in Singapore that was held just prior to the AELM.

• Minister for International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, Stockwell Day, attended the APEC Ministers¡¯ Responsible for Trade Meeting in July 2009.

• A delegation of Canadian Members of Parliament from the Canadian branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) visited Singapore in August 2008. During their visit, the delegation was hosted to lunch by Speaker Abdullah Tarmugi. Chairman of Finance and Trade Industry Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) Inderjit Singh also hosted lunch for the delegation.

• Parliamentary Secretary Deepak Obhrai led the Canadian delegation to Singapore to attend the 41st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting / Post-Ministerial Meetings / 15th ASEAN Regional Forum in July 2008.

• SM Goh Chok Tong visited Vancouver in June 2006 to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) for Young Global Leaders.

• Minister for Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim visited Canada in December 2005 for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

• Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and then Senior Minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan visited Canada in October 2005 to attend the Global Pandemic Influenza Readiness meeting of Ministers.

Bilateral Relations

Singapore and Canada enjoy warm and friendly relations. Both countries share common interests, such as preserving the stability of the Asian-Pacific region, and enjoy good cooperation on a wide range of areas including education, public health, security and defence. Singapore and Canada had jointly extended technical assistance jointly under the Singapore-Canada Third Country Training Programme to developing countries. The programme which was launched during former Prime Minister Chr¨¦tien's visit to Singapore in 1998 enabled Singapore and Canada to share resources, expertise and experience in assisting other developing countries. Singapore and Canada also signed a Singapore-Canada Air Transport Agreement (ATA) in November 2007.

Bilateral Highlights

Singapore's relations with countries in Latin America are cordial. Relations have expanded in recent years as evident from the regular exchanges of high level visits both bilaterally and to attend multilateral meetings. Singapore has also shared our development experience with Latin American countries through the provision of technical assistance under the Singapore Cooperation Programme.

Economic cooperation between Singapore and Latin America is increasing steadily. Singapore's trade with Latin America has more than doubled between 2005 and 2009. Singapore has also concluded Free Trade Agreements with several Latin American countries, namely, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, and Chile (as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership). Singapore¡¯s engagement of Latin American countries has also expanded to other non-economic areas such as science and technology and education.

One of the main vehicles to promote Singapore-Latin America relations is the Forum for the East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC). Projects initiated by Singapore under FEALAC include the FEALAC Journalists Visit Program (JVP), and Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF). These projects have helped to bridge the social and cultural chasms, and promoted better understanding between the two regions.

2009/2010

• Panama¡¯s Minister of Economic and Finance, Alberto Vallarino Clements visited Singapore from 17 to 20 April 2010. He met with Second Minister for Finance, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua.
  

• Costa Rica¡¯s Minister of Foreign Trade, Marco Ruiz, visited Singapore from 6 to 7 April 2010 to sign the Singapore-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement. He also called on Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, S Iswaran.

• Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zainul Abidin Rasheed attended the 4th Foreign Ministerial Meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), held in Tokyo, Japan, from 16 to 17 January 2010.

• Minister for National Development, Mah Bow Tan, visited Brazil from 3 to 13 January 2010 in conjunction with the 2nd meeting on Global Partnership on Cities and Biodiversity. While in Brazil, Minister Mah met with several Brazilian city mayors and state governors.

• Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong, and Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo, made an official visit to Cuba from 29 to 1 December 2009, in conjunction with his visit to Trinidad and Tobago to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) from 27 to 29 November 2009. This was PM's first official visit to Cuba. During the visit, PM met with senior Cuban leaders, including Raul Castro, President of the Council of State, First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, and Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba.

• Colombia¡¯s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jaime Bermudez Merizalde visited Singapore from 12 to 15 November 2009 to attend the Latin Asia Business Forum. While in Singapore, he met with Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zainul Abidin Rasheed.

• Peru¡¯s President Alan Garcia, Mexico¡¯s President Felipe Calderon and Chile¡¯s President Michelle Bachelet attended the APEC Economy Leaders Meeting in Singapore in November 2009.

2008

• Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong, made official visits to Peru, Brazil and Chile in November 2008 in conjunction with his attendance at the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Peru. During his visit, PM met with then Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, and Brazilian President Lula Inacio Luiz da Silva, and Peruvian President Alan Garcia.
  
  

• Foreign Minister of Brazil, Celso Amorim made an official visit to Singapore from 28 February to 1 March 2008. During his visit, Minister Amorim met with Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang and was hosted to dinner by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo. Minister Amorim also delivered a keynote address at a business meeting organised by International Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Business Federation.