SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will meet United States President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany next week.
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced this in a statement on Friday (June 30). On its Twitter account, the MFA also shared a link to a White House press briefing on Mr Trump's visit to Poland and Germany.
At the briefing, US National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster said Mr Trump will meet many world leaders at the summit, including the host German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chinese President Xi Jinping, British PM Theresa May, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and PM Lee.
PM Lee last spoke to Mr Trump in April, when the US President called and extended an invitation to him to visit the White House to further strengthen ties.
During his May Day Rally speech, PM Lee said he has accepted the invitation and hopes to make the trip some time this year.
Both leaders had "affirmed the deep and longstanding relationship between Singapore and the United States" during the phone call on April 30, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at the time.
The ministry said in its brief statement then: "They expressed satisfaction that ministers from both sides are already working with each other and looked forward to meeting each other soon."
The two leaders' first call was on Dec 2, 2016, soon after Mr Trump's election victory.
They will meet for the first time at the two-day G-20 summit from July 7 to 8.
Singapore is not a member of the G-20, which comprises the world's 20 largest developed and developing economies. These make up about two-thirds of the world population, 85 per cent of the global economy and over 75 per cent of world trade.
However, Singapore has been invited to participate in the G-20 Summits and related processes in 2010 and 2011 and from 2013 to 2017, as a representative of the Global Governance Group (3G). The 3G is an informal grouping of 30 small and medium-sized countries, which aims to promote greater transparency and inclusivity in the G-20 process.
Germany, which holds the rotating G-20 presidency in 2017, has invited Singapore to attend the summit and various meetings this year.
