From meals to tradition: South Korea hosts actions to mark 50 years of diplomatic ties with Singapore | USAEMALL.com

UPGRADING RELATIONS

Singapore’s Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Eric Teo said the two countries have treaded a similar path without any natural resources, relying only on their people to attain success.  

“We not only rank among each other’s top 10 trading and investment partners, we also collaborate closely in new and emerging areas such as digital economy, artificial intelligence and startups, energy, sustainability and many other areas,” he added.  

“We are looking forward to upgrading our relations to a strategic partnership this year, during the 50th anniversary.”  

South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik also praised the close bilateral ties, saying he plans to travel to Singapore this year. 

In February, his Singaporean counterpart, Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng, visited Seoul and met with Mr Woo. Both sides exchanged views about the common challenges on global developments and ways to boost inter-parliamentary ties. 

“High-level exchanges are extremely important. In that sense, following the speaker’s visit to Korea, my visit to Singapore and the participation of our leaders in APEC, I believe we can achieve not only progress in a single area, but development across many fields,” said Mr Woo, referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be hosted in South Korea this year.  

Former South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said he believes the relations between Singapore and South Korea will be further strengthened.  

“Singapore is a gateway for the Korean government as well as the Korean business circle to Southeast Asian countries,” he added.  

“ASEAN is very important for Korea. So I think it’s inevitable that Korea and Singapore have to cooperate with each other to strengthen our participation in Southeast Asian countries.”