Prime Minister Fiala opened a Business Forum in Singapore and met with top constitutional officials

The third stop on the journey through Asia belonged to Singapore. Prime Minister Petr Fiala held talks with President Halimah Yacob, Parliament Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and his counterpart Lee Hsien Loong. The Prime Minister also opened the Czech-Singapore Business Forum and visited the Singapore Investment Fund GIC.

The development of cooperation between the two countries was the main topic of Petr Fiala's meeting with the constitutional officials of Singapore.

“We discussed economic cooperation, but we also talked about the international political situation, the importance of the alliance between the EU and ASEAN countries and the role of the Czech Republic. We talked about the dangers and risks arising both from Russian aggression in Ukraine and the danger posed by the deterioration of relations between China and the USA,” said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister also discussed with Singapore's top officials the further development of economic cooperation, cybersecurity, as well as cooperation in science, research and innovation and, last but not least, cooperation in the development of artificial intelligence.

“There is great potential in the development of defence-industrial cooperation. Here I can give you one example. COLT, now owned by Česká zbrojovka, has been a long-term supplier to the Singaporean army and is now looking to upgrade 20,000 of its weapons. The company plans to participate in the upcoming tender for rifles for the Singapore Police Force. We also discussed the possibility of re-establishing a direct air link between Prague and Singapore,” added the Prime Minister.

Czech-Singaporean business activities

Singapore is an important partner for the Czech Republic in the Indo-Pacific region and is also the Czech Republic's largest export destination in Southeast Asia. Trade between the Czech Republic and Singapore reached almost USD 850 million in 2022, while Czech exports amounted to almost USD 509 milion. Czech companies export mainly electrical equipment and appliances, oil filters and optical and telephone equipment to Singapore. On the other hand, Singapore exports data processing machines, integrated circuits and other electronic components, as well as natural rubber, resins and telecommunications equipment to the Czech Republic.

In the island city-state, the Prime Minister visited the GIC investment fund, which has already invested over CZK 100 billion in two projects in the Czech Republic. It owns the largest logistics parks P3 and also has a 30 percent share in CETIN.

“GIC is one of the largest sovereign investment funds in the world, it manages roughly CZK 16 trillion, i.e. roughly 7 budgets of the Czech Republic and it is interesting for us that GIC wants to invest in the Czech Republic. We have discussed the possibilities of further investment and cooperation on other projects in the area of digitisation or high-speed internet with representatives of this fund,” said Petr Fiala.

Petr Fiala also opened the Czech-Singapore Business Forum on the island, organised by the Chamber of Commerce. “It was very successful and just the fact that almost 200 entrepreneurs from both countries gathered at the event shows the interest in cooperation with Czech companies and it also shows the potential for cooperation at the business level in the future,”  added the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala's ten-day tour of Asia continues with an official visit to Singapore. He has already visited Philippines and Indonesia. In the next few days, the Prime Minister will visit Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.