SINGAPORE: Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will visit Singapore on Thursday (Dec 4) for the 12th Singapore-Malaysia Leaders’ Retreat at the invitation of his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong.

The annual retreat is a key platform for the prime ministers of Singapore and Malaysia to take stock of bilateral cooperation, explore new avenues of collaboration, and provide guidance on how to take the countries' relationship forward, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Wednesday.

This year marks 60 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

On Thursday, Mr Wong will host a lunch for Mr Anwar, before a meeting between both sides’ delegations. Both leaders are also the finance ministers of their countries.

The two leaders will then witness the exchange of memorandums of understanding in mutual areas of interest such as health cooperation and the fight against drugs.

These will “broaden bilateral cooperation and increase the exchanges between both sides”, said MFA.

MINISTERIAL REPRESENTATION

Mr Anwar will be accompanied by Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation Fadillah Yusof, Sarawak Premier Abang Johari, Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamad Hasan, Transport Minister Anthony Loke, Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution, Acting Minister of Economy and Second Minister of Finance Amir Hamzah Azizan and Johor Chief Minister Johor Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

The Singapore delegation will also include Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong and Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam.

Also present at the retreat will be Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Grace Fu, and Minister for Manpower and Minister-in-charge of Energy and Science and Technology Tan See Leng.

National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat, Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs and Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, and Acting Minister for Transport and Senior Minister of State for Finance Jeffrey Siow will also be in the high-level delegation.

During the last leaders’ retreat in Putrajaya back in January this year, which was the ...