Senior Minister of State (SMS) for the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman, is on a five-day working visit to Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan.

He arrived in Israel yesterday and was hosted to lunch by Dr Michael Oren, Deputy Minister in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

During the lunch, Dr Maliki affirmed the excellent bilateral relations between Singapore and Israel and had a wide-ranging discussion with Dr Oren on global developments, according to a statement from Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The statement said: "SMS Maliki reiterated Singapore's consistent position and longstanding support for the two-state solution with Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security.

"He expressed the hope that both sides would resume negotiations and make progress towards a just and durable solution."

Dr Maliki will meet Acting Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yuval Rotem today before proceeding to the Palestinian Territories and Jordan.

His trip to the Middle East comes hard on the heels of a series of ministerial visits to sub-Saharan Africa aimed at signalling Singapore's growing political and economic relations with the region.

Dr Maliki was in South Africa and Namibia last week.

In South Africa, he called on former president Kgalema Motlanthe and other officials.

He also met prominent members of the Muslim community and hosted a reception for Singaporeans.

In Namibia, he met President Hage Geingob and witnessed a demonstration of an e-Justice system that is being implemented by a Singapore company. He also hosted a reception for the Namibian alumni of the Singapore Cooperation Programme and Singaporeans based in Windhoek.