Singapore Pakistan Ties Get Trade Push After 60 Years

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on Friday called for translating his country’s strong political relationship with Pakistan into a much broader economic partnership, acknowledging that trade and investment between the two countries remained well below their potential despite six decades of diplomatic ties.

Balakrishnan pushed for greater economic ties during his visit to Islamabad, where he held talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and later met Chief of Defence Forces and Army Chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. The visit was the first by a Singaporean foreign minister since 2005, and it coincided with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Dar after their talks, Balakrishnan was candid about the gap between the two countries’ close diplomatic relationship and their limited economic engagement.

“To be very candid, at a diplomatic level, we’ve got excellent ties,” he said. “In fact, they are so good that it makes it even more obvious that our trade relations, looking at the numbers and the data, ought to be much higher.”

He described greater trade and investment flows as the “first order of business”, calling for stronger links between businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises, in the two countries.

What the two sides agreed

Dar said the two sides had agreed to encourage business delegations and closer chamber-to-chamber contact. Pakistan has also reopened its Trade and Investment Office at its High Commission in Singapore.

The two foreign ministers also discussed the possible resumption of direct air links between Pakistan and Singapore to facilitate business travel and people-to-people contacts. No date was announced, but the item is now formally on the bilateral agenda after years without a direct connection.

Prime Minister Shehbaz, meanwhile, accepted in principle an invitation from Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to visit Singapore, providing another potential opening for high-level engagement. During his meeting with Balakrishnan, the prime minister identified the digital economy, fintech, infrastructure development, logistics, SMEs and the services sector among areas where the two countries could expand cooperation.

Balakrishnan said Shehbaz’s acceptance of the invitation had injected “an additional sense of urgency” into efforts to identify practical areas of cooperation. One such area is the carbon market, which the Singaporean minister said could provide a new avenue for attracting investment into Pakistani projects aimed at reducing emissions while supporting sustainable development.

Beyond trade: the wider visit

The trade push sat within a wider visit that Feature Pakistan has already covered in its separate strands. Balakrishnan praised Pakistan’s Gulf-crisis role as incredibly valuable, met Field Marshal Munir at General Headquarters, and exchanged a disaster-management agreement with Pakistan.

That agreement, between Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority and the Singapore Civil Defence Force, envisages cooperation in disaster preparedness and response, including early-warning systems, search and rescue capabilities, sharing of best practices and possible joint training and exercises. Balakrishnan said Singapore could learn from Pakistan’s experience in dealing with large-scale natural disasters, particularly floods and extreme weather events.

Education, artificial intelligence and skills development also featured prominently, with stronger links explored between Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore and Pakistan’s National University of Sciences and Technology. Balakrishnan also visited the National Center of Artificial Intelligence at NUST.

The two sides also discussed the regional security environment, including the Gulf crisis and its implications for maritime trade and energy supplies. Dar raised Palestine and Kashmir, reiterating Pakistan’s support for an independent Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital and a Kashmir settlement under UN Security Council resolutions.

The ministers also discussed closer Pakistan-ASEAN engagement. Pakistan is one of ASEAN’s earliest sectoral dialogue partners, while Singapore takes over the grouping’s chairmanship in 2027.

As Balakrishnan put it at the end of his visit: “60 years is an important milestone, but what matters more is what we do in the next 60 years.”

Frequently asked questions

What did Singapore propose on trade with Pakistan?

Balakrishnan called for translating excellent diplomatic ties into a much broader economic partnership, with stronger business links, especially between small and medium enterprises, more business delegations and closer chamber-to-chamber contact.

Will direct flights between Pakistan and Singapore resume?

The two sides discussed the possible resumption of direct air links to help business travel and people-to-people contacts, but no date was announced.

What else was agreed during the visit?

Pakistan and Singapore exchanged a disaster-management agreement covering early warning, search and rescue and joint training, and discussed education and AI links between their universities, plus carbon-market cooperation.

Why does the visit matter now?

It was the first visit by a Singaporean foreign minister since 2005, it marked 60 years of diplomatic relations, and it came months before Singapore assumes the ASEAN chairmanship in 2027.