SINGAPORE - Singapore looks forward to hosting US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for their historic summit next month, and hopes it will help advance prospects for peace on the Korean Peninsula, Senior Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs Maliki Osman said on Monday (May 21).
"May the universal values of compassion, charity, peaceful coexistence and mutual accommodation guide their discussions," he said in a speech at an iftar reception organised by the United States embassy in Singapore.
"We will be praying for world peace."
The annual breaking of fast reception was hosted by the United States Embassy's Charge d'Affaires Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath at the US ambassador's residence.
In a short speech, she described the upcoming June 12 summit - which will be the first time the leaders of both the US and North Korea will be meeting - along with the recent general election in Malaysia that saw a peaceful handover of power, as two "important and potentially ground-shifting events in the region".
In their remarks, Dr Maliki and Ms Syptak-Ramnath both made the point that their two countries value racial and religious harmony.
The reason the US and Singapore are such strong partners, Ms Syptak-Ramnath said, is because "we choose a world where people of all creeds, ethnicities and colours can live and prosper as sons and daughters of a God who created us to live in unity and harmony".
More than 60 people attended the event, among them leaders of Muslim community groups and diplomats, and the evening prayers were led by Imam Habib Hassan Al-Attas of the Ba'alwie Mosque.
