Transcript of Doorstop Interview by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam in Cairo, Egypt on 22 September 2025

Question 1: What are your key takeaways from your first State Visit to the Middle East? And what are new areas of cooperation that you hope both Singapore and Egypt can collaborate on?

Question 2: How have the discussions and deals signed during the State Visit affected Singapore's interests in the Middle East and Egypt? 

Question 3: The MOUs and agreements signed during this visit cut across diverse areas — so given the more complex geopolitical climate now, what is the significance of your visit to the Middle East in building cooperation in more areas?

President Tharman Shanmugaratnam: I had very productive discussions with President Al Sisi and subsequently with Prime Minister Madbouly, as well as with the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Prof Dr Ahmed Al Tayyeb, and Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, the leader of the Coptic Church. Together with my delegation and the SBF delegation, I also had very useful discussions with Egyptian ministers and business leaders.

Singapore believes in Egypt's future. It is a country in a very troubled region of the world, but Egypt is an oasis of stability in a troubled region. It also has a unique strategic position, at the junction of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and with both the Suez Canal and the Nile, being very significant advantages for Egypt. Plus it has a huge, young population – half of its 108 million population is below the age of 25. And very importantly, Egypt has a coherent view of its own future, economically and socially. 

The discussions I had with Egypt’s leaders showed that we have shared strategic interests, a very strong commitment to promoting interfaith harmony, and the sense that we complement each other economically in many ways and want to grow that economic complementarity. And importantly too, we want to continue cooperating very closely in the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

On the economic front, new opportunities are being opened up in Egypt. The country has embarked on a new phase of growth and development. The Suez Canal Economic Zone, for instance— well over 450 square kilometres, up and down the Suez Canal with six ports and four industrial zones — has very significant prospects. They're already attracting significant foreign investments. 

The Egyptians are interested in working with our companies too, in logistics, manufacturing, renewable energy and other areas. Their key priority is to boost exports, taking advantage of their ample labour and relatively low costs, and they want to work with us where we have expertise to add.

For instance, coming out of my discussions with President Al Sisi, our two sides agreed today to work on a pilot project in digitalising port management. Singapore Cooperation Enterprise will bring our companies to work with Suez Canal Economic Zone authorities to develop a smart port at West Port Said, which is at the northern entrance to the Suez Canal.

Another outcome of our discussions was that we agreed that the two governments will study the feasibility of an Egypt-Singapore FTA. Singapore is not a competitor to Egypt. We produce components, intermediates of various forms, that can feed into Egypt's export industries. To grow and create jobs, Egypt will have to become an export powerhouse. And the FTA, if it comes about, will support that. It will also send a very strong signal of the potential gains from free trade between our two regions.

The Singapore companies that are already here are doing well and expanding — like PIL, the major shipping business; Tolaram, which is in a diverse range of industries; Olam in the agribusiness; Indorama, a Singapore-headquartered company making a very large investment in fertiliser production in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

Other large local companies are exploring opportunities, like Sembcorp, Meinhardt and Agrocorp.  But the SBF delegation that came with me also had several SMEs. Some of them are specialists, such as in precast or pre-stressed concrete, or in instrumentation for intelligent cities, for examples. 

So there are many areas where we can add value to Egypt, and which will take us to a new level in our economic relationship. An FTA, if the two governments find that it is feasible, will give that a boost.

Interfaith harmony remains a common project for both our countries. Al Azhar University has been helpful in developing the Singapore College of Islamic Studies, on top of the existing postgraduate certificate programme we conduct on Islam in Contemporary Societies. Al Azhar is renown not only for its Islamic scholarship, but as a beacon in the promotion of tolerance and interfaith understanding. It also works with the Coptic Church in Egypt to promote this understanding. We'd like to continue working very closely with them.

Our relationship with Egypt in the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza remains extremely important. The Egyptian Red Crescent, which coordinates aid from Egypt into Gaza, was very appreciative to receive me as the first Head of State to visit their headquarters. And our Ambassador in Egypt was one of the very first ambassadors to approach them when the conflict started. They value their relationship with Singapore and we certainly value how they've helped us get aid across to help Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The latest assistance we have just provided was in bringing specialist medical staff from Singapore — some of our best paediatric specialists, in fact – into Nasser Institute Hospital in Cairo. We are the first country they have allowed to bring in our medical personnel. They have spent the last few days in helping to impart their experience to their Egyptian counterparts, as well as helping out some complex cases amongst Palestinian children who had been evacuated to Egypt.

So when you add it all up, it's a new level of relationship we are embarking on. But what's important too is that we get along well. The relationship between leaders is important, and as a small country we put a lot of effort into those relationships across the world. With Egypt, we can work well together. My conversations with President Al Sisi were very useful, and I could tell that there's a real keenness to work together with Singapore.