Singapore, Australia support U.S. presence in the region

Singapore, Australia support U.S. presence in the region

SINGAPORE (AP): Top Singapore and Australian officials said on Monday that they welcomed a strong U.S. presence in the region, where the economic crisis has brought growing social and political turmoil.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister Tim Fischer and Defense Minister John Moore met with Singapore's Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar in the second Singapore-Australia Joint Ministerial Committee meeting.

"Both Australia and Singapore strongly support the continued U.S. presence in the region, especially given the current difficult times," Jayakumar said during the opening ceremony.

He added that the economic crisis has increased the importance of good relations between his country and Australia.

Australia's foreign minister said, "The involvement of the U.S. in the security architecture in the East Asia region is important."

Australia and Singapore should play a greater role in shaping the reform of the international financial system, Downer said.

"We don't think that the G-7 countries alone can decide the future of the international financial architecture," he said, adding that institutions like the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation forum should also contribute.

The SAJMC was initiated in 1996 as an opportunity for the two countries to reaffirm ties and explore areas for further collaboration.

Australia and Singapore are also partners in the Five Powers Defense Arrangement, which also includes New Zealand, Malaysia and Britain. The 28-year-old military partnership had to cancel one of its exercises last year, after Malaysia withdrew from participation because of border problems with Singapore.

Downer called the military partnership an "important component of the regional security," and said he hoped that its activities would continue this year as planned. The next multilateral FPDA exercises are scheduled for April.

Later Monday, Singapore and Australia were expected to sign a wide-ranging agreement on cooperation in information and communication technology, valued at between US$23 million and US$29 million.

The areas of cooperation will include speeding up commercial and industry exchange, encouraging trade and investment and coordinating electronic commerce.