Following her meeting with the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, on 10 April, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, discussed the potential for closer cooperation between the European Union and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong, on Tuesday 15 April.
This free trade agreement brings together 12 countries in the Indo-Pacific region: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Vietnam.
The President also welcomed the cooperation between the EU and Singapore, a country that “shares the same ideas, whether in terms of its support for Ukraine or our joint efforts on climate security and sustainable development”.
In a press release, she also highlighted the forthcoming signing of the bilateral agreement on digital trade (see EUROPE 13461/7) and expressed the intention to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with Singapore on security and defence.
Finally, she encouraged the opening of formal discussions on Singapore’s association with the Horizon Europe research programme (see EUROPE 13515/8). (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)