S'pore, Australia to upgrade ties and deepen cooperation

Comprehensive Strategic Partnership 2.0 initiatives to include defence, energy, AI

- Anjali Raguraman Correspondent

Singapore and Australia will deepen their cooperation in many areas from defence to trade, as they further elevate bilateral ties.

Both sides on Oct 8 laid out what Prime Minister Lawrence Wong called a “very full and ambitious agenda” of 20 agreements under an upgraded Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP), or CSP 2.0, as the countries marked 60 years of ties.

The CSP 2.0, inked in Australia’s capital Canberra on Oct 8, encompasses strengthening cooperation in defence, supply chain resilience, green and digital economies, food security, renewable energy and innovation, as well as emerging areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and space.

The upgraded partnership builds on the first CSP signed in 2015, and will comprise 80 initiatives, including 20 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and agreements, as well as 11 new dialogues.

These dialogues cover five areas of bilateral cooperation, including peace and stability on the home front and in the region, further connecting the two economies, and the countries’ transitions to net-zero emissions targets.

Speaking to the press alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Parliament House in Canberra, PM Wong said the first CSP had delivered “real and tangible benefits for both countries”.

These included “pathfinding” pacts like the world’s first digital and green economy agreements, which were later emulated by other countries.

Beyond benefiting both countries, he noted, this was an example of how multilateralism can be strengthened in the wider world.