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Official Name - The Republic of Singapore
Land
Area - 707 sq km
Population
- 4.99 million
Capital City -
Singapore
Religion - Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Taoism, Hindu
Language - Malay,
Chinese (Mandarin) Tamil and English are the official languages. Malay is the
national language and English the administrative language
Currency - Singapore dollars - Exchange rate - S$1 = NZ$1.04 [June 2010]
Political system: Republic with a parliamentary system of government
National government: People’s Action Party (holds 82 seats out of 84 possible seats in parliament)
National legislature: Comprises the President and a unicameral Parliament
Last election: 6 May 2006
Next election due: 2012
Head of State: President S R Nathan
Head of Government: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Key Ministers:
Minister Mentor - Mr Lee Kuan Yew
Senior Minister - Mr Goh Chok Tong
Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security - Prof S Jayakumar
Deputy Prime Minister, Defence Minister - Mr Teo Chee Hean
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Home Affairs - Mr Wong Kan Seng
Law Minister - Mr K Shanmugam
Foreign Affairs Minister - Mr George Yeo
Trade and Industry Minister - Mr Lim Hng Kiang
Finance Minister - Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Education Minister - Dr Ng Eng Hen
Key Opposition Ministers - There are only two elected opposition MPs in Parliament:
Singapore Democratic Alliance - Chiam See Tong, who is serving his sixth consecutive term
Worker’s Party - Low Thia Khiang, who is in his fourth term.
Chairman of the Workers Party - Ms Sylvia Lim, has been appointed to the Opposition benches as a Non-Constituency member.
There are also nine Nominated MPs (NMPs), who are not connected to any political parties.
Reforms announced this year will guarantee about one fifth of parliamentary seats to MPs from other than the ruling People’s Action Party.
Main Political Parties:
People’s Action Party (PAP)
Workers’ Party (WP)
Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) (encompasses Singapore People’s Party, Singapore Justice Party, Singapore Malay National Organisation)
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP)
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Reform Party.
GDP (2009) S S $265 b
GDP per capita (PPP) S $50,522
Real GDP growth minus 2%
Exports (2009) S $391 b
Imports (2008) S $356 b
Main exports breakdown (2009) Electronic components (+22%),
Petroleum products (+19%), Office and data processing machines (+5%),
Telecoms equipment (+3%)
Inflation (2008) 0.6%.
NZ exports to Singapore NZ$1100 million (up 27.5% on calendar 2008)
Main exports ($NZ year to June 2009) Crude oil $284m (+77%), Milk powder $170m (-14%), Boats $132m (new entry), Bitumen $25m (new entry), Butter $24m (-46%)
NZ imports from Singapore NZ$1625 million (down 28% on calendar 2008)
Main imports (year to June 2009) Refined oil $1104m (-23%), Computers $54m (-16%), Polymers of ethylene $40m (-30%),
Paper etc
$26m (-1%), Unrecorded media (CDs etc) $22m (+38%).
New Zealand external trade statistics are taken from data supplied by Statistics New Zealand. Due to differing collection methodologies between the respective statistics agencies in New Zealand and Singapore, Singaporean statistics for the same period differ.
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New Zealand’s links with Singapore are among its longest-established and closest in Asia. The two countries both have very open economies and often take similar views internationally and regionally on trade issues. Singapore provides New Zealand with valuable insights into ASEAN thinking and processes.
The bilateral relationship dates back to well before Singaporean independence from Malaysia in 1965. During the Second World War, New Zealand fliers played a notable role in the air defence of Singapore. Post war, New Zealand stationed an infantry battalion and air units in Singapore between 1969 and 1989. Strong defence links have continued in the years since.
During the 1980s, Singapore’s economic boom helped drive an important bilateral trade relationship. Today, Singapore is New Zealand’s eighth-largest merchandise trading partner and a base for New Zealand businesses operating throughout South East Asia.top of page
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Singapore is a founding member, is a centrepiece of Singapore’s foreign policy. New Zealand is linked closely to ASEAN as a Dialogue Partner. Singapore, with its close historical ties to New Zealand, has been a key “window” for us into ASEAN processes and planning, and often shares similar views to New Zealand’s on regional initiatives.
Singapore and New Zealand are members of, and work together closely in, regional and wider groupings including APEC (of which Singapore was the 2009 host), the security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the East Asia Summit (EAS).
Singapore is a strong supporter of international law, particularly the sanctity of national sovereignty, and plays an active role in both the United Nations and the Commonwealth.
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The first major economic agreement between New Zealand and Singapore was the Agreement on a Closer Economic Partnership (ANZSCEP), New Zealand’s second CEP after CER with Australia. This entered into force on 1 January 2001 and remains one of New Zealand’s most comprehensive international economic arrangements.
The CEP became the foundation for the 2005 “P4” trade agreement between New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and Chile that is now in the process of evolving into the potentially much larger Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Negotiations are now proceeding with Australia, Peru, Viet Nam and the USA to expand the agreement.
In parallel to the TPP, Singapore, New Zealand, Chile and Brunei have negotiated a binding Environment Cooperation Agreement and a binding Labour Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding.
Singapore was a central player in the development and conclusion of the Australia/New Zealand/ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) that was agreed in September 2008 and entered into force on 1 January 2010. This agreement is likely to be worth around $50 million in tariff savings per year to New Zealand.
As an open and heavily export-dependent economy, Singapore was particularly hard-hit by the downturn, but has recovered rapidly. It is expected to grow from between 7 to 9 percent in 2010, following a contraction of 2 percent in 2009.
Singapore’s economic policies are aimed at maintaining Singapore’s role as a major trading centre in Asia. Its fiscal policy is designed to ensure that its economy continues to move up the value-added chain. A new national economic blueprint focuses on gearing the economy towards inclusive growth for Singapore’s citizens, developing local small and medium enterprises, positioning the country as a global city and improving productivity.
In line with Singapore’s push to be a premier research hub in Asia, public expenditure on research and development is scheduled to increase to 3.5 percent of GDP. Singapore has also unveiled a S$1 billion ‘green plan’ to be a key player in the fast-growing environmental technology and urban solutions industry.
Singapore is currently Zealand’s fifth-largest bilateral trading partner, up to former levels after dropping to eighth position during the global downturn. Total two-way trade between Singapore and New Zealand in the December 2009 year was NZ$2.73 billion, down somewhat on the 2008 calendar year (NZ$3.11 billion).
The balance of bilateral trade has long been strongly in Singapore’s favour – more than 2:1 – but the difference is slowly reducing. New Zealand exports in the December 2009 year were NZ$1100 million against imports from Singapore of NZ $1600 million.
New Zealand exports are currently focused on crude oil, milk powder, boats, bitumen and butter, while leading imports include refined oil, computers, polymers and paper.
Figures for leading New Zealand imports and exports (and changes from the previous calendar year figures) are given at the end of this paper.
Increasing New Zealand effort is going into promoting innovation and research-based industry in which there are good synergies with Singaporean capital and global business connections. Biotechnology, ‘clean’ technology, ICT and the creative industries show particular promise, as do science linkages generally. Singapore has made vast investments in developing state-of-the art science development and commercialisation programmes. Education cooperation is also an area of considerable promise.
Singapore is an important source of investment for New Zealand. The stock of Singaporean foreign direct investment in New Zealand in calendar 2009 was estimated at NZ $2254 million, very slightly up on the 2008 year.
A Work Exchange Programme created in 1999 enables New Zealand and Singaporean tertiary students and recent graduates to work in each other’s country for up to six months.
In August 2009, New Zealand and Singapore signed a Double Taxation Agreement that replaced an outdated 1973 agreement.
New Zealand and Singapore are parties to a 2001 Multilateral Agreement on the Liberalisation of Air Transportation (MALIAT) and the MALIAT Protocol (an “open skies” agreement).
An Audio-visual Co-production Agreement was signed in July 2004 to strengthen co-operation between the film industries of both countries.
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Defence links, which date back to the Second World War, form a significant part of the New Zealand-Singapore relationship. Arrangements for training assistance and other cooperation were formalised in a bilateral agreement concluded between the two Governments in 1971 in parallel with the establishment of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA)[1].
New Zealand takes part in a many bilateral and multilateral naval, air and army exercises with Singapore. In terms of overall activity, Singapore is New Zealand’s second-largest defence partner in the Asia-Pacific after Australia.
The maturity of the Singapore-New Zealand defence relationship and a history of defence cooperation yield benefits for both countries. Singaporean forces operate with the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan, Afghanistan and the two countries have also been deployed together in Timor-Leste.
New Zealand signed a Defence Cooperation Arrangement with Singapore in May 2009. This formalises the existing close defence ties between the two countries.
[1]The Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) is a joint defence arrangement between Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
In the year ended December 2009, some 29,500 Singaporean residents visited New Zealand, a 2.6 percent increase over the previous calendar year.
NZ is represented in Singapore by:
Singapore is represented in NZ by:
The Safetravel website provides a travel advisory for travellers to Singapore [external link]. top of page
