Press release: Minister for Asia visits Singapore for talks on business, investment and the illegal wildlife trade

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Mark Field, minister for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is in Singapore to further joint work on issues including security, trade and combating the illegal wildlife trade.

During the two day visit he will meet Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean to discuss the UK-Singapore relationship.

Mr Field will also attend the opening of the Lee Kong Chian Medical School, meet representatives from UK financial and professional services to discuss opportunities and challenges in South East Asia, and visit Lattice80, Asia’s largest financial technology (FinTech) hub, to meet Singapore’s top FinTech firms.

He will also visit Interpol’s Global Complex for Innovation to learn about their work on tackling the illegal wildlife trade through crime networks.

The UK is a key player in the global effort to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade and will host the Illegal Wildlife Trade conference in London in March 2018. Singapore has been committed to helping this work.

Mark Field, minister for Asia and Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said:

Singapore and the UK have deep historic links, and remain major partners on a wide range of issues. In 2015 alone the total UK trade with Singapore was worth nearly £11bn, the most of all the countries in the South East Asia region. We share values and collaborate on education, research, science and innovation.

I look forward to discussing the illegal wildlife trade during my visit. The UK is committed to tackling this crucial issue, and we will continue to work with our international partners, non-Governmental organisations and the private sector to bring it to an end.

The minister’s visit to Singapore is the final stage of a tour to Asia which has also included China, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Notes for Editors:

  1. Mark Field MP was appointed Minister for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in June 2017. This is his first official visit to Singapore.

  2. Singapore is the world’s third largest global financial centre and conducted £10.9bn of trade with the UK in 2015.

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