Category: Key Issues

Indonesia and Singapore have agreed to establish an annual defence forum, to strengthen their military partnership, in order to support stability in the Southeast Asia region, Indonesian Defence Minister, Prabowo Subianto, said yesterday.

Subianto said that, the forum for defence partnership committee, which would have a military sub-committee in it, was expected to be a place for both countries to further discuss military cooperation in various fields, and to create new areas of cooperation.

The plan was conveyed yesterday during a visit by Singapore’s Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong to Jakarta, during his close-door meeting with Subianto.

“Indonesia fully supports the strengthening of our close military cooperation with Singapore that we have built, based on the principles of equality, mutual benefit and full respect for each country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as, international laws,” Subianto noted.

He also said, the military partnership between the two nations has become more significant, after Indonesia ratified last Dec, the Defence Cooperation Agreement between Indonesia and Singapore, a deal which aims to boost both countries’ defence capabilities through security dialogues, intelligence sharing, scientific cooperation and joint military exercises.

 

Source: NAM News Network

 

Oil prices climbed in early Asia trade on Monday, supported by tensions in the Middle East following a drone attack in Iran and as Beijing pledged over the weekend to promote a consumption recovery which would support fuel demand, Trend reports with reference to Reuters.

Brent crude futures rose 54 cents, or 0.6%, to $87.20 a barrel by 0115 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $80.22 a barrel, up 54 cents, or 0.7%.

“It is not really clear yet what’s happening in Iran, but any escalation there has the potential to disrupt crude flow,” said Stefano Grasso, a senior portfolio manager at 8VantEdge in Singapore.

Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, are unlikely to tweak its current oil output policy when they meet virtually on Feb. 1.

Still, indication of a rise in crude exports from Russia’s Baltic ports in early February caused Brent and WTI to post their first weekly loss in three last week.

On Saturday, China’s cabinet said it would promote a consumption recovery as the major driver of the economy and boost imports, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

“We have Russia on the supply side and China on the demand side. Both can swing by more than 1 million barrels per day above or below expectation,” said Grasso, formerly an oil trader with Italy’s Eni.

“China seems to have surprised the market in terms of how fast they are coming out of zero COVID while Russia has surprised in terms of resilience of export volume despite the sanctions.”

China resumes business this week after its Lunar New Year holidays. The number of passengers travelling prior to the holidays rose above levels in the past two years but is still below 2019, Citi analysts said in a note, citing data from the Ministry of Transport.

“Overall international traffic recovery remains gradual, with high-single to low-teens digits to 2019 level, and we expect further recovery when outbound tour group travel resumes on Feb. 6,” the Citi note said.

 

 

Source: TREND News Agency

 

The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, His Excellency Shavkat Mirziyoyev, received a ceremonial welcome at the Istana this morning and called on President Halimah Yacob. President Halimah and President Mirziyoyev reaffirmed the friendly ties between Singapore and Uzbekistan on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations. President Halimah welcomed closer connectivity between Singapore and Uzbekistan including people-to-people ties and parliamentary exchanges. She also encouraged Uzbekistan to use Singapore as the gateway to engage Southeast Asia.

During his meeting with President Mirziyoyev, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong welcomed Uzbekistan’s interest to learn from Singapore’s experience in areas such as education, public administration and civil service training. Prime Minister Lee was updated on Uzbekistan’s development strategy and President Mirziyoyev welcomed Singapore companies to explore opportunities in Uzbekistan. The two leaders witnessed the exchange of eight Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) and Co-operation Agreements (see Annex).

President Mirziyoyev will depart Singapore for Tashkent this evening.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Singapore

In response to media queries on Indonesia’s ratification of the Treaty for the Extradition of Fugitives (ET) and the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), the MFA Spokesperson said:

“Singapore welcomes Indonesia’s ratification of the ET and DCA. Indonesia had earlier ratified the Agreement on the Realignment of the Boundary between the Jakarta Flight Information Region (FIR) and the Singapore FIR (FIR Agreement). Indonesia’s ratification of all three agreements under the Expanded Framework between Singapore and Indonesia is a clear sign of the strength and maturity of our bilateral relationship, and our commitment to work together as close neighbours. Singapore has also completed its domestic legal processes for the three agreements.

We look forward to exchanging with Indonesia our formal notifications of the completion of our respective domestic processes for all three agreements. Singapore and Indonesia will then jointly seek approval from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for the arrangements under the FIR Agreement, to enable the simultaneous entry into force of all three agreements on a mutually agreed date.”

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Singapore

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan called on Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Putrajaya, Malaysia today. During the meeting, Minister Balakrishnan and Prime Minister Anwar reaffirmed the excellent longstanding relations between Singapore and Malaysia. The relationship was strengthened by the mutual support and collaboration between both countries, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trade and investments continued to grow during this challenging period. Minister Balakrishnan also conveyed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s invitation to Prime Minister Anwar to visit Singapore at the end of the month.

Minister Balakrishnan also met Malaysian Minister of Transport Anthony Loke Siew Fook, Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli, Minister of Defence Dato’ Seri Utama Mohamad Hasan, and Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. The Ministers agreed to enhance cooperation in various areas, including restoring full connectivity and new opportunities in digital economy and sustainable development.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Singapore

BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 16. Uzbekistan and Singapore aim to develop transport ties, Trend reports via the press service of the Uzbek Transport Ministry.

The matter was discussed between Uzbekistan’s Minister of Transport, Ilhom Mahkamov, and Singaporean Minister of Transport, S. Iswaran

During the meeting, the sides outlined the expediency of increasing transport ties between the two countries.

Throughout the discussions, the parties have reached several agreements on the development of Uzbek airports based on Singapore’s experience, digitalization of public transport, construction of transport and logistics centers in Uzbekistan, as well as training of Uzbek transport specialists in Singapore.

Furthermore, ministers emphasized the importance of accelerating the implementation of joint projects.

Following the negotiations, the sides have signed an agreement on expanding transport ties.

Source: TREND News Agency

Crypto.com said on Friday it would be reducing about 20% of its workforce, as cryptocurrency exchanges face industry-wide challenges brought on by the collapse of FTX last year, Trend reports with reference to Reuters.

The Singapore-based company’s announcement comes amid concerns about reserves and solvency across the sector, and only a few days after rival exchanges Coinbase Global Inc and Huobi announced their plans to lay off about 20% of their staff. A source told Reuters last week that Genesis, too, had cut jobs, equating to 30% of its workforce.

The layoffs at Crypto.com would be its second in about six months, after it reduced jobs in July last year to weather the macro economic downturn amid rising interest rates.

Th recent FTX collapse “significantly damaged trust in the industry,” Crypto.com Chief Executive Officer Kris Marszalek said in a statement.

“It’s for this reason, as we continue to focus on prudent financial management, we made the difficult but necessary decision to make additional reductions in order to position the company for long-term success.”

The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX was the biggest in string of big crypto-related failures in 2022. It sparked a cryptocurrency rout and has left an estimated 1 million creditors facing losses of billions of dollars.

Source: TREND News Agency

While Singapore sees no specific or credible terrorist threats at present, there is still a need to stay alert to potential threats on the horizon, local newspaper the Straits Times reported Thursday, quoting a report, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

Released by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, the report said the easing of COVID-19-related movement restrictions and resuming of cross-border travel could prompt a surge in terrorist movement and activities, including around Southeast Asia.

The report said that Singapore continues to remain a high-value target for both terrorist organizations and self-radicalized lone actors.

The primary threat in Singapore still emanates from individuals self-radicalized through online means, it added.

“As such, the authorities will need to continue to take a proactive stance against those seeking to recruit and radicalize individuals for the purpose of committing terrorist acts, or to foment ethnic or religious divisions in the community.”

Since 2015, 45 self-radicalized individuals have been dealt with under the Internal Security Act in Singapore. While figures have declined slightly in recent years from a high of 17 cases in 2016 to a single case each in 2021 and 2022, cases of self-radicalization persist, according to the report.

 

Source: TREND News Agency