HAMBURG, Germany: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and US President Donald Trump held their first bilateral meeting on Saturday (Jul 8), on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Hamburg.
Both leaders reaffirmed the excellent bilateral ties and committed to work together to advance the relationship, said the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in a statement.
It added that PM Lee welcomed Mr Trump’s continued engagement of the Asia Pacific, and looked forward to his participation in the ASEAN-US Summit, East Asia Summit, and APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in November 2017.
On his part, Mr Trump said: “We expect to do some excellent things together in many ways. We have a very big relationship now and it will probably get much bigger.”
Although Mr Trump and Mr Lee have previously spoken twice on the phone, this is their first face-to-face encounter, during which they exchanged views on regional and international developments.
Mr Trump also said he looked forward to receiving PM Lee in Washington DC later this year. “This will be an opportunity to further broaden and deepen bilateral collaboration,” said the PMO.
No date has been announced for that visit but PM Lee said in May that he had accepted Mr Trump’s invitation to the White House and hoped to make the trip later this year.