SINGAPORE – The situation in the Strait of Hormuz, including the right of unimpeded transit passage there, was among the topics discussed during Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s visit to four Middle East countries from May 2 to May 5.

He visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where he reaffirmed Singapore’s longstanding ties with its Gulf partners and exchanged views on regional developments, the Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on May 6.

Dr Balakrishnan also discussed areas of cooperation between ASEAN and the Gulf Cooperation Council in meetings during this trip.

In the UAE, Dr Balakrishnan met Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber in Abu Dhabi, who is also the managing director and group chief executive officer for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

He also met Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi.

They discussed opportunities to strengthen the Singapore-UAE Comprehensive Partnership in areas such as trade and investment, supply chain resilience, energy, the digital economy and civil defence, said MFA.

In a Facebook post on May 3, Dr Balakrishnan said the UAE and Singapore “share a common interest in keeping trade following and strengthening resilience in a more fragmented world” as both nations are “small, open economies”.

“I expressed Singapore’s solidarity with the UAE following the recent attacks in the region and stressed the need for de-escalation,” said Dr Balakrishnan.

In Oman, Dr Balakrishnan met Foreign Minister Badr Bin Hamad Bin Hamood Al Busaidi and Minister of Royal Office Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Nomani.