SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed Singapore's support for the Egyptian presidency of COP27 on Thursday (March 17) during Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt Sameh Shoukry's visit to Singapore.

PM Lee also expressed appreciation to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi for his invitation to attend the United Nations climate summit in November, and reaffirmed the longstanding ties between the two countries.

Mr Shoukry made an official visit to Singapore from Wednesday to Thursday as part of a regional visit to Asia, where he met PM Lee at the Istana on Thursday.

Mr Shoukry separately also met Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean, who chairs Singapore's Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change, and the two exchanged views on Egypt's priorities for COP27.

SM Teo conveyed Singapore's readiness to work with Egypt and other countries to advance global climate action, and to strengthen bilateral cooperation on sustainability and environmental issues.

They also discussed regional and global security developments, and underscored both countries' common interest in strengthening religious cooperation and promoting inter-faith dialogue.

During his visit, Mr Shoukry had a meeting with and was hosted to breakfast by Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Second Minister for Education Maliki Osman.

The ministers reaffirmed warm bilateral ties and agreed to explore cooperation in areas of mutual interest.

Dr Balakrishnan noted that many Singaporean students at Cairo's Al Azhar University had returned to serve the Singaporean Muslim community, including the present and past muftis.