Although 80-year-old Queen Silvia of Sweden was due to join her husband  King Carl XVI Gustaf on a state visit to Singapore from November 19 to 21, she had to pull out due to a ‘severe respiratory infection’.

State visit to Singapore carried on even though Swedish Queen had to pull out

His Majesty the King still undertook the formal visit to the island Republic of Singapore and in a few short days fitted in a number of meetings including one with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam followed by a visit to the Botanical Gardens to be presented with an orchid created especially for him.

Around 50 Swedish companies, government agencies and higher education institutions took part in the business delegation and the Singapore-Sweden Royal Business Forum, arranged by Business Sweden.

The point of the visit was for the two countries to get closer, with the aim of to deepening existing collaborations and develop new areas of collaboration in areas of mutual interest such as health, defence, energy, transport and civil aviation.

10 important Memorandums of Understanding were signed during  King Carl XVI Gustaf’s brief visit to Singapore

In connection with the Swedish State Visit, more than ten memorandums of understanding (MoU) were concluded between the two  governments, government agencies, companies and universities.

Those entered into included agreements concerning cooperation on innovation in health care whilst a 1998 memorandum covering defence-related equipment was amended.

Other documents signed covered relationships regarding civil aviation as well as cooperation in the energy sector and land transport.

Hopefully Her Majesty will be completely recovered in time for the Swedish Christmas festivities .