TOKYO - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is in Tokyo for a working visit, met his Malaysian counterpart Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Wednesday (May 25).
This followed their meeting at the Asean-United States special summit in Washington earlier this month.
Bernama News Agency cited Datuk Seri Ismail as saying that the two leaders discussed their bilateral retreat that Singapore will be hosting this year, with the proposed dates to be in late September or early October.
Both leaders will be speaking at the 27th Nikkei International Conference on The Future of Asia on Thursday.
On Wednesday, PM Lee also visited the teamLab Borderless digital art museum in Tokyo's Odaiba district, ahead of its closure in August. The art collective will open a new museum in the city next year.
In a Facebook post, Mr Lee noted that many Singaporeans would be familiar with teamLab's distinctive digital installations, with their work having been featured in the Future World exhibit at the ArtScience Museum and the Story of the Forest exhibit at the National Museum of Singapore.
Separately, Mr Lee met Singaporean conductor Wong Kah Chun, 35, who is principal conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. He will begin a five-year appointment as chief conductor in September next year.
Mr Lee also had dinner with members of the Japan-Singapore Parliamentary Friendship League (JSPFL) , which was formed in 1997 to promote bilateral engagement between the two parliaments.
The current JSPFL chairman is former Japanese foreign and defence minister Taro Kono, who worked in Singapore in 1993 in the private sector.
It was in Singapore that Mr Kono - who also heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's public relations headquarters - acquired a love for the king of fruit. He now serves as the honorary chairman of the Japan Durian Promotion Association.
Mr Lee said that Wednesday's experience, starting with his tour of the teamLab Borderless museum, brought out the theme of "connectivity".
"I'm glad that Singaporeans will soon be able to make their own connections as Japan progressively reopens its borders to small group tours," he said.
