Singapore’s Vivian Balakrishnan to visit Pakistan for talks on October 30
The foreign minister is due to meet Pakistan’s leaders in Islamabad, with disaster management among the planned areas of cooperation.
Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan is due to visit Islamabad, Pakistan, on October 30 for talks with senior Pakistani leaders on bilateral ties, channelnewsasia.com reported, citing Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The trip comes as Singapore and Pakistan mark 60 years of diplomatic relations, and the ministry said it would provide an opportunity to explore cooperation in disaster management, innovation and research, and education.
Balakrishnan will meet Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, who is scheduled to host him for lunch, channelnewsasia.com reported. The two ministers plan to hold a joint press conference after their meeting. Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the visit was at Dar’s invitation and that their talks would cover bilateral relations as well as regional and global developments of mutual interest, according to Dawn.
Disaster management agreement planned
Pakistan’s Foreign Office said a memorandum of understanding on disaster-management cooperation between its National Disaster Management Authority and the Singapore Civil Defence Force would be exchanged during the visit, Dawn reported. The agreement is a specific planned step in one of the areas Singapore’s foreign ministry identified for closer cooperation. Both accounts describe the exchange as forthcoming; neither establishes that it has taken place.
Singapore’s foreign ministry described the visit as reaffirming a longstanding friendship built on mutual respect and ties between the countries’ people, according to channelnewsasia.com. Pakistan’s Foreign Office also pointed to the timing of the trip: it falls in the year of the diplomatic relationship’s 60th anniversary and ahead of Singapore taking the ASEAN chairmanship in 2027, Dawn reported.
Meetings with Pakistan’s leadership
Balakrishnan is also scheduled to call on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of defence forces and army staff, channelnewsasia.com reported. His itinerary includes a visit to the National Center of Artificial Intelligence at the National University of Sciences and Technology to learn about its work in AI. Officials from Singapore’s foreign ministry will accompany him.
The scheduled press conference may provide the first public account of what the ministers discuss. For now, the ministries have described the meetings, institutional visit and agreement exchange as plans for October 30; they have not announced outcomes from the visit.
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Sources and context
- Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan to visit Pakistan on Oct 30CNA
- Singapore foreign minister to undertake official visit to Pakistan on Oct 30Dawn
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.