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Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, and Singaporean Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Albert Chua met on Friday (April 4) to discuss bilateral relations and the potential for reestablishing cooperation between the two countries. Singapore is the only ASEAN country that has followed Western sanctions placed upon Russia.
Rudenko and Chua discussed their opinions on the state and prospects of Russian-Singaporean relations, with Rudenko pointing out that the anti-Russian sanctions introduced by the Singaporean authorities in March 2022 “have proven counterproductive and hinder full use of substantial potential for cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including the trade, economic, and humanitarian issues.”
Singapore is a wealthy city-state, however, lacks land to expand and develop its economy. Traditionally is has done this primarily in neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia, and has extensive trade elsewhere with ASEAN, China and India. Singapore is keen to develop trade ties with Central Asia as it is familiar with moderate Islamic markets, sees Russia as a key to this. There have previously been advanced discussions about Singapore having a Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, however this was also shelved in 2022.
Rudenko and Chua also discussed cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, common efforts to oppose challenges and threats facing it, and links at the Russia-ASEAN dialogue partnership level.
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