Singapore will officially open an embassy in Israel for the first time since the two countries established official ties more than half a century ago.
Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan (pictured) this week informed his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid that his government will open an embassy in Tel Aviv at an unspecified date in order to “serve as a focal point and support Singapore companies seeking to expand their collaboration with potential Israeli partners,” the Singaporean foreign ministry said in a statement.
The two nations were also hoping to “deepen collaboration in emerging areas such as agri-food tech, health-tech, AI and digitalization, as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement said.
While the two countries first formed diplomatic ties in 1965 with Israel establishing an embassy in Singapore a few years later, only an honorary Singaporean consulate exists on Israeli soil.
File/Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) talks with Singapore’s President Tony Tan Keng Yam at the Istana presidential palace in Singapore on February 20, 2017. Netanyahu is in Singapore on a two-day official visit. (ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty)
Singapore has until now been wary of exposing its ties with Israel, which include its purchases of defense materiel from Jerusalem, for fear of angering its Muslim-majority neighbors, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Israel’s defense minister, Benny Gantz, secretly visited the country last year the Times of Israel reported. However, the Trump-led Abraham Accords normalizing ties between Israel and several Arab Muslim countries in 2020 has broken down barriers and Singapore is now more willing to openly boost relations.
“I welcome the government of Singapore’s decision to open an embassy in Israel for the first time since the establishment of relations,” Lapid said in a statement. “This represents another testament to the good and unique relations between the countries.”