SINGAPORE - Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean on Saturday (Jan 22) unveiled a new orchid hybrid in honour of the strong ties between Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Dendrobium Expo 2020 Dubai, as the flower is called, also marks both nations' shared love and respect for nature, Mr Teo said.

He was speaking at a ceremony to mark Singapore Day at the Expo 2020 Dubai event, a six-month world expo that launched on Oct 1 last year and runs till March 31.

"Our two countries are both strong advocates of creating a more sustainable future. This is an ethos that both our countries have imbibed from our founding fathers," said Mr Teo, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security.

"His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the late founding president of the UAE, was said to have described the environment as an integral part of the UAE's country, history and heritage.

"In Singapore, our commitment towards a green environment started in the 1960s thanks to the vision of our founding prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, way before words like 'sustainability' and 'climate change' entered our lexicon."

In his speech, Mr Teo also congratulated the UAE on the success of the world expo, which he said is "no mean feat" to organise, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Singapore and the UAE share strong economic and people-to-people ties, Mr Teo said, noting that the UAE is Singapore's largest trading partner and investment destination in the Middle East, while the UAE hosts the largest number of Singaporeans in the region.

The new orchid hybrid, which was bred by the Singapore Botanic Gardens, features golden yellow petals with light purple veins.

It will be displayed at the Singapore Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai for a limited time, together with two other hybrids: the Dendrobium Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak orchid hybrid, named after the third wife of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan; and the Aranda Lee Kuan Yew.