Australia will be Singapore’s comprehensive strategic partner whichwould enable bilateral cooperation in the economy, foreign affairs anddefense to expand further.

Australian PrimeMinister Tony Abbott will make his first official visit to Singaporefrom June 28- 29 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the twocountries’ diplomatic ties.

The two PMs are scheduled to sign the Singapore-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) during the visit.

“The CSP will take bilateral relations between Singapore and Australiato the next level and strengthen political, economic, defence, andpeople-to-people ties between both countries”, said the SingaporeanMinistry of Foreign Affairs.

Singapore and Australiawill also sign several Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on terrorismfight, goods and service standards as well as culture and arts.

Australia was the first nation to establish diplomatic relations withSingapore in 1965 and currently is the Southeast Asian nation’s 11thlargest trade partner with two-way trade reaching 25.5 billion SGD(nearly 18.9 billion USD) last year.

Singapore’sdirect investment in Australia in 2013 hit 43.2 billion SGD, makingAustralia the 3rd most favourite destination of Singaporean investors.-VNA