PM Lee Hsien Loong will be on 4-day official visit to Mexico
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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's visit to Mexico will be the first by a Singapore prime minister in 22 years.
PHOTO: ST FILE
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SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will arrive in Mexico on Sunday (Nov 17) for a four-day visit at the invitation of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
During the trip, PM Lee will meet Mr Lopez Obrador and other top Mexican officials. He will also address the Mexican Senate and hold a dialogue with the Mexican business community.
The visit will also see Singapore and Mexico signing a number of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to cooperate in areas such as science and technology, water resources, culture, industrial property and international development, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement on Saturday.
For instance, an MOU between Singapore's Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and its Mexican counterpart will facilitate technical exchanges and capacity building in water management in areas such as desalination, water reclamation and reuse.
Another agreement, between public-sector research agency A*Star and Mexico's Centre of Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute, will promote joint research projects and the exchange of researchers.
PM Lee's visit will be the first by a Singapore prime minister in 22 years, following then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's visit in 1997 when the two countries signed a joint declaration that paved the way for negotiations towards a Singapore-Mexico Free Trade Agreement.
Bilateral trade between Singapore and Mexico - both signatories to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership - amounted to $4.7 billion last year, making Mexico the Republic's second-largest trading partner in Latin America after Panama. Trade volume for 2019 is projected to grow for the third year in a row, and is on track to exceed $5 billion.
PM Lee will be accompanied on the visit by Mrs Lee, Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs Maliki Osman and Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Education Chee Hong Tat, along with officials from the PMO, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Enterprise Singapore, as well as a delegation of business leaders.
In PM Lee's absence, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat will be the Acting Prime Minister.
