Singapore
Bilateral relations
Australia and Singapore have a strong and vibrant relationship. Australia was the second country to recognise Singapore when it became an independent nation in 1965. In 2015, Australia and Singapore established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), which encompasses all aspects of our relationship including trade, defence, science and innovation, education and the arts, digital economy and green economy. A refreshed Partnership which is expected to run from 2025 to 2035 is currently being discussed.
Our prime ministers meet every year. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Singapore's (then) Prime Minister Lee met in Melbourne in February 2024, where they welcomed the robust and multifaceted cooperation under the Singapore-Australia CSP and noted the good progress made on key initiatives under the landmark Green Economy Agreement (GEA). Our Prime Ministers also met in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016.
Singaporean and Australian cabinet ministers also meet regularly – either during bilateral visits or at regional and multilateral meetings. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles visited Singapore in June 2023 for the Shangri-La Dialogue. Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong visited Singapore on 23 May 2024 for meetings with former Prime Minister Lee and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.
Under the Singapore-Australia Joint Ministerial Committee (SAJMC), Australian and Singaporean Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence Ministers meet biennially to discuss bilateral trade, defence and security issues. The fourteenth SAJMC was held on 3 December 2024, and included the Foreign, Defence and Trade Ministers from Australia and Singapore. Ministers discussed the good progress that both countries have made in developing the slate of initiatives for the next ten-year phase of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Trade and investment
Trade and business ties between Australia and Singapore are strong. Singapore is Australia's largest two-way trading partner and investor in Southeast Asia. It is also our sixth largest trading partner $46.7 billion in 2022-23) and our sixth largest source of foreign direct investment ($141 billion in 2023).
The Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) was signed in 2003. SAFTA has been revised six times, with the most recent update in December 2020. This revision reflects the entry into force of the Australia‑Singapore Digital Economy Agreement, and updated SAFTA's Electronic Commerce chapter into a Digital Economy chapter.
Australia and Singapore are both parties to the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).
Australia and Singapore are also members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which entered into force on 30 December 2018.
Australia-Singapore Food Pact
Singapore and Australia have a long and trusted food partnership. This partnership was strengthened during the COVID-19 pandemic amid supply chain disruptions. We are partnering closely on food safety and innovation to build resilience in our respective food systems.
The Prime Ministers, at the 2022 Annual Leaders' Meeting, agreed to begin work on a bilateral Food Pact to support enhanced supply chain resilience and greater flows in trade and investments of Australian and Singapore food supply.
Following the Annual Leaders' Meeting in 2023, Australia and Singapore agreed to the food Guiding Principles . The Food Pact Guiding Principles will seek to increase trade in high quality food products, support Singapore as a transhipment hub, stimulate Singaporean investment into Australia, and facilitate cooperation on global food security issues. It will do so by seeking to increase cooperation on trade pathways, encourage collaboration on research and industry development and promote sustainable and resilient agri-food systems.
Related documents
Singapore-Australia Supply Chains Working Group – Food Pact Guiding Principles
Defence and security
Singapore is a close and highly capable defence partner of Australia, as reflected in the CSP. On 10 December 2020, the Treaty on Military Training and Training Area Development between Australia and Singapore entered into force and has enhanced and expanded training opportunities for Singapore Armed Forces personnel in Australia. The Treaty builds on 30 years of Singapore's unilateral military training in Australia and underpins Singapore's investment in, and commitment to, delivering the Australia-Singapore Military Training Initiative. Exercise WALLABY, the Singapore Armed Force's annual unilateral exercise, was held in North Queensland in August-October 2023.
Australia and Singapore have signed a range of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to enhance defence cooperation, including on personnel exchanges, military intelligence cooperation and defence science and technology. Australia also entered into a treaty with Singapore in August 2017 to support the continuation of the Singapore Air Force training at RAAF Base Pearce. Singapore's Armed Forces contributed to Operation Flood Assist 2022 and Operation Bushfire Assist 2020.
Australia and Singapore are both members of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), which is a joint defence arrangement between Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Our police forces cooperate closely and have signed MOUs on police collaboration to combat transnational crime and also to combat transnational drug crime. In March 2020, Australia and Singapore announced the renewal of an MOU on Cyber Security Cooperation.
Innovation and science
Both Singapore and Australia recognise the importance of innovation to create modern and dynamic economies. Singapore is a world leader in building a supportive, flexible environment for emerging businesses and Australia has a world-class research system and outward-looking and creative businesses that are ready to collaborate internationally.
Australia and Singapore have signed an MOU on collaboration in innovation and science. A new Synchrotron Access Agreement between the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisations and the National University of Singapore was signed by Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic and Singapore's Minister for Industry and Trade Gan Kim Yong, in October 2022. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research also signed a Master Research Collaboration Agreement in 2022. In August 2023, Australia and Singapore signed an MOU to strengthen health cooperation.
Australia has located one of its five start-up 'landing-pads' in Singapore to promote innovation and entrepreneurship. This initiative supports Australian companies to take advantage of Singapore's status as an emerging tech hub and gain access to the wider ASEAN market.
People connections
People links between Australia and Singapore are strong, encompassing education, tourism, public service cooperation and arts and culture. More than 5,000 Singaporean studied in Australia in 2022. Since 2014, more than 4,000 Australian students have undertaken study and internships in Singapore under the New Colombo Plan.
Singapore and Australia are complementary tourism markets and enjoy close commercial links. Singapore was Australia's fifth largest inbound tourism market in the 2022-23 financial year.
Australia and Singapore are committed to cultural activities that further develop our people-to-people links. We signed an MOU on cooperation in the field of Arts and Culture in 2015.The National Museum of Australia recently renewed their MOU with Singapore's National Heritage Board in September 2023. The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art renewed their MOU with the Singapore Art Museum in 2021, and in 2022 the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra renewed an MOU with Singapore's Symphony Orchestra. Singapore and Australia renewed an MOU on Cooperation in Sport in September 2020 to further our cooperation on sport and sports administration.
Digital economy
The Australia-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement (DEA) entered into force on 8 December 2020. It sets new global benchmarks for trade rules, and a range of practical cooperation initiatives, to reduce barriers to digital trade and build an environment in which Australian businesses and consumers are able to participate and benefit from digital trade and the digitalisation of the economy. The DEA upgrades the digital trade arrangements between Australia and Singapore under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement – which are already among some of the most ambitious globally.
In April 2022, Australia and Singapore signed the Australia-Singapore FinTech Bridge Agreement which strengthens cooperation on financial technology and facilitates trade, investment and ecosystem development in the sector.
Green economy
The Singapore-Australia Green Economy Agreement (GEA) was signed by Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell and Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong on 18 October 2022. The GEA is a first-of-its-kind agreement that supports Australia's economic, trade, investment, and climate change objectives. Under the GEA, Australia and Singapore will jointly implement 17 practical initiatives.
Highlighted in the GEA Annexes these initiatives seek to deliver tangible outcomes to benefit businesses and consumers. Many of these initiatives have already commenced. The GEA will be updated regularly, and new and additional activities might be added over time.
The GEA will build on our substantial bilateral relationship with Singapore and existing areas of cooperation, including the MOU for Cooperation on Low-Emissions Solutions signed in 2020 that supports practical collaboration on hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, renewable energy trade, and measurement, reporting and verification of emissions.