PM Lee begins four-day official visit to Tokyo on Monday

SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be making an official visit to Tokyo, Japan, from Monday (Sept 26) until Thursday, as Singapore marks 50 years of diplomatic relations with the country.

PM Lee and his wife Ho Ching will be hosted to a banquet by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. PM Lee will also be receiving a posthumous award on behalf of the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew – the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers from Mr Abe.

The award is one of Japan’s most prestigious and only four other non-Japanese have received the award since it was elevated to a class of its own in 2003: Former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh, former US Senator Daniel Inouye and former US Ambassadors to Japan Walter Mondale and Howard Baker. The award for Mr Lee Kuan Yew is the first time Japan awarding the honour to a foreign national posthumously.

During his visit, PM Lee will hold a summit meeting with Mr Abe, and deliver a speech at the Special Session of the Nikkei 22nd International Conference on “The Future of Asia”. PM Lee will also meet Singaporeans living in Japan at a reception.

Japan is one of Singapore’s largest trading partners. Last year, it was the Republic’s eighth largest trading partner with bilateral trade of S$46.5 billion. Japan is also Singapore’s second largest investor after the US, with cumulative direct investment of S$109.4 billion as of end-2014.

Singapore, meanwhile, is Japan’s top Asian foreign direct investor, and fifth largest overall, with a cumulative investment of US$15.1 billion as of the end of last year. 

PM Lee’s last official visit to Japan was in March 2007, where he was also hosted to tea by the Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

On this trip, he will be accompanied by Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin, Senior Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Transport) Josephine Teo, Senior Minister of State (Culture, Community and Youth and Trade and Industry) Sim Ann, and Members of Parliament Teo Ho Pin and Zainal Sapari. Senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also be part of the delegation.

During PM Lee’s absence, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam will serve as Acting Prime Minister.