S’pore, UK bound by shared world outlook, says outgoing envoy

As Singapore celebrates its founding 50 years ago, TODAY is running a monthly series of interviews with ambassadors of several countries that play a key role in Singapore’s foreign relations. This month, TODAY reporter Celene Tan (celenetan [at] mediacorp.com.sg) speaks with British High Commissioner Antony Phillipson about UK-Singapore relations, the two countries’ collaboration on climate change and innovation as well as Singapore’s future. Mr Phillipson’s term in Singapore ends on April 15, marking the end of a four-year stint. The interview has been edited for space considerations.

Q: Can you summarise the state of UK-Singapore bilateral relations?

A: I think they are extremely healthy and these links to the UK go back almost 200 years, to 1819. It has now evolved into a partnership that is based on a shared outlook of a world based on prosperity, open trade and rule of law. We are partners for each other’s security, so we work together across all these agendas. At the same time, we continue to build people-to-people links, through education exchanges, tourism, and I think it has turned into a relationship that is very modern, and certainly from a UK point of view, absolutely vital, to the UK and our agenda in the world.

Q: What do you think is the most important aspect of this relationship?

A: Prosperity Agenda – UK and Singapore companies working together to create jobs, to create wealth, that will deliver the future prosperity for our people.

Q: Can you tell us more about the new UK-Singapore Innovation and Research Partnership?

A: The Innovation and Research Partnership was something that we announced in the margins of the state visit (by President Tony Tan to the UK) last October. It builds on the science and research collaborations that had come through the Partners and Science Agreement that dates back to 2004, and we wanted to update how we can take those outputs and turn them into job-creating, wealth-creating enterprise, and turn ideas into start-ups that turn into medium companies, that turn into global successes. That’s the dream. The UK and Singapore want to position us to do that together, so that’s the point of the Innovation and Research Partnership.

We have a huge number of universities offering their courses and their qualifications through Singapore education providers. There are 50,000 people studying for a UK qualification here in Singapore at the minute. It’s taking these collaborations and thinking about how we can position them for the future, and how the governments can work together, that is the essence of the Innovation and Research Partnership.

Q: When then-Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Singapore in 2012, he said that the UK is “looking East as never before.” Can you update us on what the UK has done to increase engagement in Asia since then?

A: I think if you look back over the last few years, there is a pattern of ministerial, senior officials, trade delegation visits to Asia that was quite unlike anything that has come before. It was a real step-change in activity, high-level attention and government commitment to supporting our companies in this part of the world. And of course the reason that happened was because we are looking for export markets and our traditional export markets in Europe and North America were heavily affected by the global financial crisis and many of the growth markets of the world are in Asia. And Singapore is a vital platform for us to expand our activity, our interests, our influence if you will, and our commercial opportunities across the whole of Asia.

Q: In a commentary you wrote for TODAY in January, you mentioned that there was potential for Singapore and the UK to work together on climate change. How do you envision this partnership given that Singapore’s overall share of global greenhouse gas emissions is only 0.2 per cent?

A: What we think people can learn from Singapore is the clarity of Singapore’s understanding of the issue, the clarity of Singapore’s commitment to addressing its own environmental challenges through smart nation policies, environmental efficiency. We have the Carbon Trust ... a UK organisation (that) is working with the national climate change secretariat here to work with Singapore SMEs to understand their environmental impact and how to reduce it.

Singapore also does an enormous amount of technical training for other countries to understand their own environmental impacts and how to address them and reduce them. And I think it’s a good example of where Singapore can act as a thought-leader within its region and within its various groupings.

And this goes broader than climate change actually, if you look at the UK where we are a member of the European Union, one of the permanent members of the (United Nations) Security Council, and the G7. Singapore has sort of positioned itself next door to the G20 very cleverly, and it is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the G77, the Alliance of Small Island States, the Federation of Small States, it has created all these groups that it is in that we’re not in. And if you put those together, I think we’re probably members of pretty much every group in the world. Then at the heart of it, there’s the Commonwealth which we’re both in, so we give ourselves this opportunity to network, to access each other’s audiences, and that’s why it’s important that we work together on things like climate change.

Q: In view of Singapore’s 50 years of independence this year, what does the UK think about Singapore’s future and the legacy that has been left behind by founding prime minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew?

A: What we saw here in Singapore two weeks ago on the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, was on the one hand a huge outpouring of emotion from the people of Singapore, but also a huge amount of reflection about his legacy and the success of the country that he and his colleagues, the other founding fathers, created in the 1960s and 1970s. And then obviously when Mr Lee stepped down, taken over by Mr Goh Chok Tong, and then Mr Lee Hsien Loong, you see this continuing evolution of the country that is founded on principles of transparency, enterprise, and commitment to the rule of law, security and stability. It’s a remarkable success story that shows no sign of lessening. So again, this is why we see it as an important partner, because Singapore is going to continue to ensure the principles set out by Mr Lee, and taken up by his successors, that is an opportunity for the UK to have a natural partner in this part of the world.

I think it would be not necessarily right of me to predict Singapore’s future, but the fundamentals of this country are strong and stable, and again I think this is why it is an opportunity for the two countries to work together, because the UK and Singapore are both looking to create what I would call a knowledge-based economy. We don’t have natural resources, we don’t have huge populations, what we do have is a commitment to education, innovation and creativity and the opportunity to work together to create this economy to sustain our people in the years ahead.

Q: As you come to the end of your posting here, what will you miss most about Singapore?

A: I think I will miss the warmth of the people. My family and I have had a wonderful four years here, this has become our home as well, and it will be a real wrench to leave. I love the sense of opportunity here, there is a sense of “get up and go”. There’s ambition, enthusiasm, and I think those are all things that I will miss, and all things frankly, that I think the UK looks to learn from Singapore. It has been a real privilege to be here.

Can you summarise the state of UK-Singapore bilateral relations?

I think they are extremely healthy and these links to the UK go back almost 200 years, to 1819. It has now evolved into a partnership that is based on a shared outlook of a world based on prosperity, open trade and rule of law. We are partners for each other’s security, so we work together across all these agendas. At the same time, we continue to build people-to-people links, through education exchanges, tourism, and I think it has turned into a relationship that is very modern, and certainly from a UK point of view, absolutely vital, to the UK and our agenda in the world.

What do you think is the most important aspect of this relationship?

Prosperity Agenda — UK and Singapore companies working together to create jobs, to create wealth, that will deliver the future prosperity for our people.

Can you tell us more about the new UK-Singapore Innovation and Research Partnership?

The Innovation and Research Partnership was something that we announced on the margins of the state visit (by President Tony Tan to the UK) last October. It builds on the science and research collaborations that had come through the Partners and Science Agreement that dates back to 2004, and we wanted to update how we can take those outputs and turn them into job-creating, wealth-creating enterprise, and turn ideas into start-ups that turn into medium companies, that turn into global successes. That’s the dream. The UK and Singapore want to position us to do that together, so that’s the point of the Innovation and Research Partnership.

We have a huge number of universities offering their courses and their qualifications through Singapore education providers. There are 50,000 people studying for a UK qualification here in Singapore at the minute. It’s taking these collaborations and thinking about how we can position them for the future, and how the governments can work together, that is the essence of the Innovation and Research Partnership.

When then-Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Singapore in 2012, he said that the UK is “looking East as never before”. Can you update us on what the UK has done to increase engagement in Asia since then?

I think if you look back over the last few years, there is a pattern of ministerial, senior officials, trade delegation visits to Asia that was quite unlike anything that has come before. It was a real step-change in activity, high-level attention and government commitment to supporting our companies in this part of the world. And of course the reason that happened was because we are looking for export markets and our traditional export markets in Europe and North America were heavily affected by the global financial crisis and many of the growth markets of the world are in Asia. And Singapore is a vital platform for us to expand our activity, our interests, our influence if you will, and our commercial opportunities across the whole of Asia.

In a commentary you wrote for TODAY in January, you mentioned there was potential for Singapore and the UK to work together on climate change. How do you envision this partnership given that Singapore’s overall share of global greenhouse gas emissions is only 0.2%?

What we think people can learn from Singapore is the clarity of Singapore’s understanding of the issue, the clarity of Singapore’s commitment to addressing its own environmental challenges through smart nation policies, environmental efficiency. We have the Carbon Trust ... a UK organisation (that) is working with the national climate change secretariat here to work with Singapore SMEs to understand their environmental impact and how to reduce it.

Singapore also does an enormous amount of technical training for other countries to understand their own environmental impacts and how to address them and reduce them. And I think it’s a good example of where Singapore can act as a thought-leader within its region and within its various groupings.

And this goes broader than climate change actually, if you look at the UK where we are a member of the European Union, one of the permanent members of the (United Nations) Security Council, and the G7. Singapore has sort of positioned itself next door to the G20 very cleverly, and it is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the G77, the Alliance of Small Island States, the Federation of Small States. It has created all these groups that it is in that we’re not in. And if you put those together, I think we’re probably members of pretty much every group in the world. Then at the heart of it, there’s the Commonwealth which we’re both in, so we give ourselves this opportunity to network, to access each other’s audiences, and that’s why it’s important that we work together on things like climate change.

In view of Singapore’s 50 years of independence this year, what does the UK think about Singapore’s future and the legacy that has been left behind by founding prime minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew?

What we saw here in Singapore two weeks ago on the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, was on the one hand a huge outpouring of emotion from the people of Singapore, but also a huge amount of reflection about his legacy and the success of the country that he and his colleagues, the other founding fathers, created in the 1960s and 1970s. And then obviously when Mr Lee stepped down, taken over by Mr Goh Chok Tong, and then Mr Lee Hsien Loong, you see this continuing evolution of the country that is founded on principles of transparency, enterprise, and commitment to the rule of law, security and stability. It’s a remarkable success story that shows no sign of lessening. So again, this is why we see it as an important partner, because Singapore is going to continue to ensure the principles set out by Mr Lee, and taken up by his successors, that is an opportunity for the UK to have a natural partner in this part of the world.

I think it would be not necessarily right of me to predict Singapore’s future, but the fundamentals of this country are strong and stable, and again I think this is why it is an opportunity for the two countries to work together, because the UK and Singapore are both looking to create what I would call a knowledge-based economy. We don’t have natural resources, we don’t have huge populations, what we do have is a commitment to education, innovation and creativity and the opportunity to work together to create this economy to sustain our people in the years ahead.

As you come to the end of your posting here, what will you miss most about Singapore?

I think I will miss the warmth of the people. My family and I have had a wonderful four years here, this has become our home as well, and it will be a real wrench to leave. I love the sense of opportunity here, there is a sense of “get up and go”. There’s ambition, enthusiasm, and I think those are all things that I will miss, and all things frankly, that I think the UK looks to learn from Singapore. It has been a real privilege to be here.