PM Lawrence Wong extends condolences to families affected by Optus outages in Australia

On defence ties, Mr Wong noted Singapore and Australia have a “very strong base”, adding that there was room for cooperation to be strengthened further. 

“For example, we are discussing possibilities for our respective militaries to be able to access defence facilities in each of our countries,” he said.

“We are looking at defence technology cooperation as well as defence logistics and supply chains. And that will enable our defence cooperation to go even further.”

On the economic front, Mr Wong said that Singapore and Australia are looking at enhancing cooperation beyond their current free trade agreement, for example, by potentially implementing a supply chain agreement for essential supplies. 

With regard to green energy cooperation, Mr Wong said Singapore is “very interested” in looking at research and development in the area and would like to discuss it further with Australia. 

He also noted Singapore’s limited ability to deploy green energy but pointed to Southeast Asia’s “tremendous potential”.

“Looking at access to technology, financing, these are all ways in which Singapore and Australia can work together to help accelerate that green transition in Southeast Asia,” Mr Wong said.