Jerusalem – The Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, arrived in Jerusalem in a first ever official visit of a formal delegation from Singapore to Israel on Monday, April 18.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The prime minister was accompanied by his Foreign Minister, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, and Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli Bin Masagos Mohamad, as well as over 50 other Singapore officials and diplomats.
“The Israel-Singapore relations have been characterized by a brave friendship that began during the tenure of Singapore’s founder, first prime minister, and father of the current prime minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew,” stated a spokesperson from the Israeli prime minister’s office.
In his autobiography From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, the late prime minister of Singapore revealed how Israel was instrumental in creating the Singapore Armed Forces.
Following its independence in November 1965, Singapore turned to several countries with a request for military consultants and material aid, including India, Egypt, and the United Kingdom. However, only Israel consented to help the newly formed nation, wrote Lee Kuan Yew.
The leader of Singapore began his visit in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate. The ceremony included praise of Hebrew University’s scientific cooperation with the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University.
Lee later conducted a tour of Jerusalem’s Old City and its holy sites.
Over the next few days Prime Minister Lee is scheduled to hold official meetings with President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at which point further bilateral agreements are to be signed by the two countries’ leaders.