PM Lee, Obama reaffirm excellent ties in bilateral meeting
By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 15 November 2009 1114 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Visiting US President Barack Obama met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday morning on the sidelines of the APEC Leaders' meeting.

It is the first meeting between both leaders since Mr Obama's inauguration early this year.

The meeting at the Istana, which lasted about half an hour, touched on wide-ranging issues including the health of the global economy, regional developments, and the role of APEC, ASEAN and the G-20.

The two leaders also reaffirmed the excellent bilateral relations between Singapore and the US and stressed the importance of maintaining an open and inclusive regional architecture.

Mr Lee welcomed the US engagement with the region, saying: "The sense that I received from the President is that he's very much focused on Asia, as he said (US Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton has made three trips to Asia in just one year and (now) he is here, (and) we have held the first US-ASEAN summit meeting ever including all 10 ASEAN countries.

"And he came with an agenda and proposals on what he would like to do with ASEAN, whether it is education, disaster relief and management, social and cultural cooperation... it's a positive agenda, which ASEAN gave a positive response to."

There was also positive response to Mr Obama's recent announcement that the US would engage members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, or TPP in short, which now groups Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.

The first round of talks with the US was to have taken place in March this year but it was put off to allow the new Obama administration to review its trade policy. Other economies that have expressed interest in joining the TPP are Peru, Australia and Vietnam.

It is hoped that the TPP would be a building block to achieve a larger free trade agreement encompassing the Asia Pacific.

Prime Minister Lee said: "We hope, or rather, we will move to a group of eight from where we are now, a group of 4, to a significant entity furthering the cause of trade liberalisation in the Asia Pacific."

Singapore and the US already have a Free Trade Agreement. In the five years since the FTA went into effect, trade between both countries has grown more than 74 per cent.

On his part, Mr Obama has invited Mr Lee to attend the Global Nuclear Summit in Washington next year. A White House spokesperson said this is in recognition of Singapore's key security role in the region.

"Singapore serves as a critical trading hub in the region, and we commend Singapore's commitment to counter-proliferation efforts," National Security Council spokesman Michael Hammer said.

Singapore was one of the first countries to sign on to the US Proliferation Security Initiative, aimed at halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction by closely monitoring international cargo passing through its ports.

"As the first country in the region to sign on to the Proliferation Security Initiative, Singapore is working to expand the reach and membership of this important tool to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction," Mr Hammer said.

President Obama and Prime Minister Lee also exchanged views on Myanmar, proposals in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate change meeting, and new proposals to deepen US engagement with ASEAN.

Mr Obama has left Singapore for the Chinese city of Shanghai as he continued his first tour of Asia since entering the White House.

It was indeed a whirlwind trip for Mr Obama. He arrived in Singapore on Saturday night just in time for the Singapore Evening cultural showcase and in less than 24 hours, he has squeezed in not just APEC meetings but also bilateral handshakes and the inaugural US-ASEAN leaders' meeting.

- CNA/ir