New Zealand PM Luxon to make official visit to Singapore, on first stop of Southeast Asia trip

Mr Luxon will call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during his visit.

SINGAPORE: New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will make an official visit to Singapore from Sunday (Apr 14) to Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a media statement.

Singapore is the first stop of Mr Luxon’s Southeast Asia visit, which will also include Thailand and the Philippines.

“Prime Minister Luxon’s visit reaffirms the excellent and longstanding relations between Singapore and New Zealand, underpinned by the Enhanced Partnership established in 2019,” said MFA.

The two countries had formally upgraded bilateral relations to an Enhanced Partnership in May 2019, during then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s visit here. It covers the five pillars of trade and economics, security and defence, science, technology and innovation, people-to-people links, and climate change and the green economy.

Mr Luxon will be accompanied on his visit by New Zealand Minister for Climate Change and Minister for Revenue Simon Watts and other senior officials.

He will receive an official welcome at the Istana on Monday, and have a new orchid hybrid named in his honour.

“He will call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who will also host an official lunch,” MFA said.

He will also meet Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Mr Luxon took office last November, after his National Party won enough seats in the country’s general election the month before to govern in a coalition.

Mr Lee had spoken with his New Zealand counterpart over the phone in January this year, and the duo also met on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne in March.