Speech by President Tony Tan at State Banquet hosted in honour of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam

Your Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah

Your Majesty The Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean
and Mrs Teo

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong
and Mrs Goh

Excellencies

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

        It gives me great pleasure to welcome Your Majesties to Singapore. My wife and I are delighted that we are able to reciprocate the generous hospitality that Your Majesties graciously accorded us on my State Visit to Brunei Darussalam in May last year. 

        This is Your Majesty’s third State Visit to Singapore, the first being over two decades ago in 1990 and the second in 2003. This visit continues the high-level exchange of visits and will further strengthen the ties between our two countries.

        I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Your Majesty on the 30^th Anniversary of Brunei’s independence. Under Your Majesty’s wise and astute guidance, Brunei has enjoyed peace and prosperity. I would also like to congratulate Your Majesty on the resounding success of Brunei’s ASEAN Chairmanship last year. Under Your Majesty’s leadership, ASEAN’s relevance and centrality in the region have been reaffirmed. Good progress was also made towards achieving the ASEAN Community goals. To this end, I am very pleased that Your Majesty will be speaking on the future of ASEAN at the 34^th Singapore Lecture tomorrow. As ASEAN’s most senior statesman, Your Majesty is eminently qualified to speak on this topic.

        Singapore and Brunei Darussalam are firm friends and partners. As small countries, we share common interests and face similar challenges. This is as true now as it was in the 1960s when we first forged our close partnership. We have always stood together. This has strengthened our voice on the regional and international stage. We have been able to thrive together as two sovereign nations.

        Our close defence ties and the Currency Interchangeability Agreement have been key pillars to our shared success. Singapore will always be deeply grateful for Brunei’s provision of jungle training areas for the Singapore Armed Forces, and for taking good care of our military servicemen training there. 

        We look forward to commemorating the Currency Interchangeability Agreement’s 50^th anniversary in 2017. There will be a special joint stamp and artifact exhibition held in 2016/2017, jointly organised by the Singapore Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and the Brunei Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. This will be of special significance as it will also commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Your Majesty’s reign.

        I am pleased to note that two Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) are being signed during this State Visit. The first between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam will enhance financial cooperation between our two countries in areas including capital market development, capacity building, and the exchange of best practices. The second is a renewal of the Singapore-Brunei Broadcasting MOU that was first signed in 1990. This MOU has resulted in various exciting joint productions by Singapore’s Mediacorp and Radio Television Brunei. I am also pleased to note that the Singapore Police Force and Royal Brunei Police Force are working towards renewing a MOU on Combating Transnational Crime and Developing Police Cooperation.

        We are also cooperating in new areas, including in the education sector. Brunei’s Ministry of Education and Singapore Polytechnic signed an agreement in February 2014 for the Singapore Maritime Academy to share its expertise and experience in the development and teaching of maritime courses. Following this, the Brunei Maritime Academy will have its first intake of students this month. I trust that this will be a fruitful partnership. We share a common commitment to ensure that our future generations are well equipped with skills relevant for the modern global economy.

Your Majesties,

        Our special relationship has been rooted in strong people-to-people ties. As Your Majesty has said on several occasions, Singapore and Brunei share a special relationship that was established during the time of the late Seri Begawan and Mr Lee Kuan Yew. We have been working hard to build on our strong historical foundations to further enhance our relations into the next generation. In this regard, I am pleased that DPM Teo Chee Hean led a delegation of our younger political office-holders to visit Brunei in August last year as part of the Young Leaders Programme. We are also looking forward to hosting His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah in Singapore later this year. 

        During my State Visit to Brunei in May last year, I said that both our countries were setting up a joint leadership exchange programme to develop our next generation of youth leaders. This evening, I am delighted to announce that the inaugural run of the Singapore-Brunei Youth Leadership Exchange Programme will be taking place in the second half of this year. Singapore is pleased to host the programme’s first run, which will bring together youth leaders from both our countries, who are between the ages of 19 to 35. I am confident that the personal ties fostered through this programme will strengthen our relations even further. 

        Our relationship is one of mutual trust and respect. Our bonds of friendship have flourished over time. Like the unique Bruneian sapling donated by the Brunei Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) to the Gardens by the Bay, I hope that our friendship will continue to bloom and grow from strength to strength. 

Your Majesties

Excellencies

Ladies and Gentlemen

        May I now invite you all to rise and join me in a toast to:

·         the continued good health, happiness and success of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah and Her Majesty The Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha; and

·         the special and enduring friendship between Negara Brunei Darussalam and the Republic of Singapore.

        Thank you very much.