SINGAPORE, February 22 (Xinhua) -- On February 20, Lawrence Wong, Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People’s Action Party (PAP), met with Yin Li, Member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, at the Istana, Singapore’s presidential palace.

Yin said that in 2023 President Xi Jinping and the leader of Singapore jointly upgraded the two countries’ bilateral relationship to an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership, charting the future course for the development of bilateral relations. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Singapore. China is ready to strengthen high-level exchanges with Singapore, further synergize the development strategies of the two countries, expand practical cooperation in various fields, and enhance institutionalized inter-party exchanges as well as mutual learning on governance, he said. Beijing will actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, continue to foster new areas of cooperation with Singapore, and promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Wong said that Singapore highly values its friendly relations with China and is willing to take the 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to further deepen exchanges and cooperation with China across various fields, strengthen dialogue and exchanges between the ruling parties of the two countries, and expand cooperation with Beijing in such fields as culture, education, healthcare and innovation to jointly take Singapore-China relations to a new level.

At the invitation of the Singaporean government, Yin led a CPC delegation to visit Singapore from February 19 to 22. During the visit, he also met with Deputy Prime Minister and PAP Chairman Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, and Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung. Yin had in-depth exchanges with people from various sectors in Singapore, and studied the country’s practices in such fields as urban renewal, ecological environment, healthcare, technological innovation, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism, and airport economy. Additionally, he attended the “Hello, Beijing” cultural exchange event and, together with the Singaporean side, witnessed the exchange of cooperation documents.

(Written by Cai Shuya and Liu Chuntao)