Remarks by President Tony Tan at the Joint Press Conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda

Your Excellency

Distinguished Guests

Let me begin by thanking President Duda for his kind remarks.  I would also like to express my appreciation to President Duda for the warm hospitality accorded to me, my wife and my delegation on this visit. I am deeply honoured to be the first Singapore President to make a State Visit to Poland.  My visit marks a significant milestone in the bilateral relationship between Singapore and Poland.  

President Duda and I had a fruitful meeting this morning.  We reaffirmed the long-standing and excellent bilateral relations between Singapore and Poland.  We took stock of the good progress made in various areas of cooperation, including economic, science and technology, and cultural collaborations. We are pleased that the economic relations between Singapore and Poland are growing, and welcomed closer cooperation to grow trade and investment.  The MOUs that International Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Business Federation have signed with the Polish Investment and Trade Agency will strengthen exchanges and collaboration between the businesses of both countries.  

Later this afternoon, President Duda and I will jointly officiate at the opening of the Poland-Singapore Business Forum.  The MOUs, together with the Forum, will give impetus to even stronger business ties between Singapore and Poland.  We look forward to the early ratification of the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement which will boost the economic links between our two countries even further. We are pleased to note that the research ties between Singapore and Poland are expanding.  

An MOU was signed today between Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Polish National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), which will facilitate the sharing of scientific expertise and knowledge, cross-fertilisation of ideas, as well as talent development in both countries. President Duda and I agreed that there is scope to enhance people-to-people linkages.  In this regard, I welcomed Polish leaders, officials, businessmen, tourists and students to visit Singapore.

During our meeting, President Duda and I also discussed developments in Europe and Asia.  Both Poland and Singapore are open, outward-looking economies located at the hearts of our respective regions. I updated President Duda about recent developments and opportunities in Southeast Asia and ASEAN.  I welcomed Polish businesses to continue tapping Singapore’s position as the regional hub to expand into the rest of Southeast Asia.  In this regard, Singapore is keen to partner Poland to do more.  

As we move towards the golden jubilee of the bilateral relations between Singapore and Poland in 2019, I am confident that the ties between our two countries will further strengthen and reach new heights. I would like to take this opportunity to invite President Duda to visit Singapore so as to allow us to reciprocate the warm hospitality we have received during our visit to Poland.

Thank you very much.