Toast Speech by President Halimah Yacob at The State Banquet Hosted in Honour of President Klaus Werner Iohannis, President of Romania

Your Excellency Klaus Werner Iohannis, President of Romania, and Mrs Carmen Iohannis

Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to host tonight’s State Banquet in honour of President Iohannis and Mrs Iohannis, and the Romanian delegation. I extend my warmest welcome to all of you.

I am honoured to host President Iohannis’ State Visit to Singapore, following the last State Visit by a Romanian President in 1982. I am certain that this significant visit by President Iohannis, which is taking place just after the 55^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Romania last year, will pave the way for stronger ties and ever more meaningful exchanges between our countries.

Indeed, President Iohannis and I had a good discussion this morning on the excellent state of relations between Singapore and Romania, and how we can take this to a higher level. We reaffirmed the warm and longstanding ties between our two countries, which are underpinned by good cooperation at international fora as well as a shared commitment to free trade, multilateralism, and a rules-based international order.

We also have good exchanges in the area of technical cooperation.  More than 150 Romanian officials had participated in our Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP) courses over the years. They attended courses in wide-ranging areas such as civil aviation, public administration, and environment and urban development. Singapore welcomes more Romanian officials to participate in our training programmes.

Looking ahead, Singapore welcomes Romania’s interest in stepping up engagement of our region. There is much that Singapore and Romania can do to promote our economic relations for the benefit of our peoples. For example, Romanian companies could use Singapore as a gateway to access the large and promising Southeast Asia market, which has a relatively young population of over 650 million and a huge middle-class that is growing rapidly. I understand that there are around 70 Romanian companies in Singapore, with many using Singapore as a base for their regional operations. We are confident that this number will grow as we further expand trade and investments between Singapore and Romania.

Our relations with the EU are expanding. Singapore is one of the top trade and investment partners of the EU in ASEAN. We greatly appreciate Romania’s support for the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA), which entered into force in 2019. We also applaud Romania’s early ratification of the EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement (EUSIPA), which will provide more protection for EU and Singapore investors in each other’s territories when it comes into force. I am confident that these agreements will take the economic linkages between Singapore and Romania, as well as other EU Member States, to ever greater heights. 

We welcome efforts to further engagement between ASEAN and the EU, in areas such as economic cooperation, connectivity, cybersecurity and the digital domain. I am pleased to note that it was under Singapore’s coordinatorship of the ASEAN-EU Dialogue Partnership that ASEAN-EU relations were elevated to a Strategic Partnership in December 2020. The signing of the historic ASEAN-EU Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement (AE-CATA) in October 2022 was another key milestone event. This was the first time that two regions had signed a bloc-to-bloc air travel agreement, providing a much-needed boost to not only our economies but also connectivity between our two regions.

Beyond the economic realm, there is much potential for us to foster closer people-to-people ties as well as to explore greater bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as cybersecurity and education. I am happy to note that Romania has participated actively in previous editions of our Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW), which provides a useful platform for all key stakeholders across the world to exchange best practices and strengthen international cooperation in cybersecurity. We warmly welcome Romania’s continued participation in this forum. 

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am confident that our two countries will continue to build upon our strong bonds of friendship and cooperation in the future ahead. May I now invite all of you to join me in a toast:

1. To the good health and happiness of President of Romania Klaus Werner Iohannis and his delegation;

2. To the continued peace and prosperity of Romania; and

3. To the enduring friendship between Singapore and Romania.

Thank you.