SINGAPORE – Greater bilateral trade, investment flows and technological upskilling were among the topics discussed during Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s official visit to Islamabad, Pakistan, on Oct 30.
He was in Pakistan at the invitation of the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, to mark Singapore and Pakistan’s 60th year of diplomatic relations.
“Over the years, there have been high-level exchanges at the leadership level, sometimes all over the world; not often enough in our own home countries,” Balakrishnan remarked on the very rare direct high-level visits between leaders of the two countries during a joint press conference with Dar in Islamabad.
“I was checking the records. My former prime minister Goh Chok Tong was here in 2004. So this is belated, but better late than never.”
The minister affirmed that the two governments have remained in constant communication “far more than people realise”, and that they have a “very effective partnership”.
Balakrishnan noted that the first order of business in Singapore’s relations with Pakistan would be to work on improving trade, economic cooperation and areas like carbon markets.
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