PUTRAJAYA: Singapore fully supports Malaysia's chairmanship of Asean next year, and expressed hope that Asean would further flourish, said its Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
He said he was confident that under Malaysia and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's leadership, Asean would develop as a stronger and more integrated community and would deepen relations with external dialogue partners.
"Singapore will fully support Malaysia's chairmanship of Asean, and we hope to be able to work together to set an ambitious and forward looking agenda for Asean for the next 10 to 20 years."
Wong said this in a joint press conference with Anwar, after their four-eyed meeting at Seri Perdana here, today.
Meanwhile, Anwar said both Wong and him touched on the need to work together in the Asean framework.
He said both Malaysia and Singapore felt that Asean was extremely important and strategic, and expressed their joint commitment to ensure that the bloc could function more effectively.
Wong said Singapore deeply valued the strong bilateral relations and said the country would continue to pursue a win-win cooperation with Malaysia.
"Our two countries already cooperate substantively, across almost every sector including health, education, trade, culture, investments, connectivity, and also in emerging areas like digital economy, renewable energy."
He said he looked forward to the Johor-Singapore economic zone and the Rapid Transit System (RTS) link.
"Both (projects) will increase the crossborder flow of people, goods, investments, bring two countries closer together, and ultimately, benefit both Malaysians and Singaporeans.