Speech by President Tony Tan Keng Yam at the Welcome Dinner hosted in Honour of The Duke of Cambridge of the United Kingdom His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales KG and The Duchess of Cambridge Her Royal Highness Catherine at the Istana Banquet Hall

Your Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge

Your Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge

Excellencies

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

        Good evening. It gives me great pleasure to welcome Your Royal Highnesses and your delegation to Singapore. Singapore is privileged to be one of the countries that the Royal Family has chosen to visit in the Commonwealth to commemorate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee this year.

        First of all, please allow me to extend my warmest congratulations and best wishes to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the momentous occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. This is indeed a significant and rare honour, as Her Majesty is only the second monarch in the history of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realm to celebrate this historic milestone. Her Majesty’s reign over the past sixty years has been marked by determination, fortitude and a steadfast commitment to service. She has been an inspiring beacon of wisdom and grace to many and is well loved not only across the Commonwealth but also all over the world. 

        Singapore is honoured to have hosted Her Majesty on her three visits to Singapore in 1972, 1989, and 2006. I was also pleased to convey my personal congratulations to Her Majesty when I attended the Olympics Gala Reception at Buckingham Palace in July this year, where I received Her Majesty’s warm and gracious hospitality. Your Royal Highnesses’ presence here today, as representatives of Her Majesty, is a great honour for Singapore and all Singaporeans, as we join the rest of the Commonwealth in celebrating Her Majesty’s long reign and enduring contributions.

        I am pleased that the bilateral relations between Singapore and the United Kingdom have flourished under Her Majesty’s reign. The relationship between our two countries has remained strong and tightly knit over the years, underpinned by deep historical ties, a shared language and substantial mutual interests. Our bilateral cooperation has grown steadily and now span a broad range of fields, including politics, trade and investment, defence, culture, education, and science and technology. We also enjoy excellent cooperation in the international arena, where we share similar interests and perspectives on many global issues.

        The steady stream of high-level exchanges between Singapore and the United Kingdom attest to the close friendship that we share. There are regular meetings between our leaders. Singapore was pleased to welcome both Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague on separate visits in April this year. I also visited London with four other Singapore Ministers in July to support Team Singapore at the London 2012 Olympic Games. 

        Our relations in the economic sphere remain robust and broad-based. Indeed, we have carried these ties with us since the day Sir Stamford Raffles looked upon Singapore and envisioned a bustling hub of entrepot trade and activity. Today, we continue to enjoy excellent trade relations. The UK is Singapore’s fourth largest European trading partner and our fourth largest investor globally. More than 3,000 British companies have established a presence in Singapore, including major international names such as Rolls-Royce, Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline. British brands have become part of our everyday lives – from the indulgent Cadbury chocolate that we all enjoy, the fashion from Topshop that is popular among our youth, to the Shell fuel that powers our vehicles.

        I am also pleased to note the excellent progress that we are making in the ongoing negotiations for the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and the EU-Singapore Partnership & Cooperation Agreement, which we expect to conclude by the end of 2012. I am confident that the two agreements will further deepen our economic linkages and facilitate greater flows of trade and investment between Singapore, the EU and the UK, to the mutual benefit of our peoples and businesses.

        Of course, Singapore's relationship with the UK is measured not just in dollars and pence. With our shared history going back almost 200 years, Singapore and the UK enjoy rich cultural relations in the fields of performing arts, visual arts, literature and heritage preservation. Our National Arts Council and the British Council in Singapore have established a wonderful rapport, which has allowed them to work in close collaboration to facilitate cultural exchanges and to promote the arts. One can always count on a British arts or musical offering in town, be it British artists at the Singapore Festival, Shakespeare in the Park at Fort Canning, or UK bands performing at the Esplanade. Generations of Singaporeans have grown up grooving to tunes from various British icons. I believe many of us here are still fans of The Beatles, Queen and The Rolling Stones, while our children are plugged in to the music of Oasis, Coldplay and Adele.

        A deep reservoir of goodwill exists between our peoples, which manifests itself across our social and people-to-people interactions. The extensive collaboration between our educational institutions allows over 4,000 Singaporeans each year to pursue degrees from UK universities. The UK also hosts one of the largest communities of overseas Singaporeans. Likewise, the British community has a strong and vibrant presence in Singapore. Numbering over 30,000, the community is larger than all of the other European communities combined in Singapore. British nationals have made significant contributions to Singapore in many fields, including education, business, science and the arts. British names are also responsible for a large part of our modern city skyline. For example, our new attraction Gardens by the Bay, which Your Royal Highnesses are visiting tomorrow, was designed by two world-renowned UK architectural firms, Grant Associates and Gustafson Porter.

        We probably should not talk about the UK without mentioning, what is in my opinion, the UK’s greatest export to the world: and that is football. Singapore, just like the UK, is a country of football supporters and many Singaporeans subsist on a weekly diet of English Premier League football. In fact, some Singaporeans may consider themselves to have as strong an allegiance to Liverpool, Manchester United and Aston Villa as the locals in Merseyside, Manchester and Birmingham!

        2012 is a particularly important and momentous year for the UK. Apart from celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, London also successfully staged a spectacular 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. During my recent visit to London for the Olympic Games, I was greatly impressed by the excellent organisation of the sporting events and the good-natured way that Londoners welcomed the world to their city for the Games. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the UK on the tremendous success of the London Olympic Games and on Team Great Britain’s best gold medal haul in 104 years.

Your Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge

Your Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

        The Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the visit of your Royal Highnesses to Singapore is a fitting occasion for us to celebrate the rich history, deep bond of friendship and close bilateral cooperation between Singapore and the UK. I have every confidence that Your Royal Highnesses’ visit to Singapore will build on the excellent foundation of our bilateral ties and bring our two countries and peoples even closer together.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

        May I now invite you to raise your glasses and join me in a toast to:

·        the continued good health and success of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Your Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge and Your Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge; and

·        the close and enduring friendship between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Singapore.