Pakistan–Singapore relations refer to bilateral relations between

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Singapore has its High Commission in New Delhi, India for its official accreditation while also maintaining a consulate general in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

, Pakistan, and Pakistan has a High Commission in Singapore. Both countries are members of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

History

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on 17 August 1966. 50 years of diplomatic relations were celebrated in 2016.

Political relations

Pakistan considers Singapore, "a sincere friend of Pakistan". Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has also called Pakistan a friend of Singapore.Singapore MFA Press Release, 11/05/2005

Humanitarian cooperation

Singapore humanitarian cooperation with Pakistan dates back as early as 1970 when the

Bhola cyclone The 1970 Bhola cyclone (Also known as the Great Cyclone of 1970) was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on November 11, 1970. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever re ...

struck

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

. Singapore dispatched a forty-five member Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Medical Mission to East Pakistan. During this trip, SAF provided medical supplies worth about $50,000, while 15 tons of canned food were forwarded to local relief centres for distribution to the victims. During the

2010 Pakistan floods The floods in Pakistan began in late July 2010, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and, Balochistan regions of Pakistan, which affected the Indus River basin. Approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's tot ...

, the government of Singapore provided Pakistan aid of up to US$100,000 whereas Singapore charity organisation Mercy Relief collected charity worth up to US$500,000. Charis Singapore, a humanitarian organization of the Catholic Church, contributed US$50,000, 800 water filters; 10 000 blankets to the flood victims of Pakistan. Singapore has also been instrumental in helping Pakistan during the

2005 Kashmir earthquake The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at on 8 October in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir. It was centred near the city of Muzaffarabad, and also affected nearby Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some areas of Indian-administered Jammu and ...

Economic relations

Singapore is an important trade partner with Pakistan. Trade volume between the 2 countries is around US$2.5 billion. Singapore exported goods worth US$2.124 billion compared to US$228 million imports from Pakistan. Singapore is also one of the largest investors in Pakistan. with investment around US$2 billion. Singapore government investment arm

Temasek Holdings Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, or simply Temasek, is a Singaporean state holding company owned by the Government of Singapore. Incorporated on 25 June 1974, Temasek owns and manages a total of US$496.59 billion (S$671 billion) in assets u ...

acquired majority share of

PICIC Pakistan Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation (PICIC) is a financial institution in Pakistan, one of the first development finance institutions established with the World Bank Group assistance in 1957. In 2007, PICIC Commercial Bank was ...

for US$339 million in June 2007 through

NIB Bank NIB Bank was a Pakistani bank which was based in Karachi, Pakistan. It was formed in 2003 as a result of merger of IFIC Bank and the National Development Leasing Corporation (NDLC), and this newly formed entity was called the NDLC-IFIC Bank (NIB) ...

, a subsidiary of

. Singapore

SingTel Singapore Telecommunications Limited, commonly known as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate and one of the four major telcos operating in the country. The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with ...

purchased a 30% stake in Pakistan

Warid Telecom Warid Telecom International ( ar, وارد تليكوم الدولية) was an Emirati telecommunications company which was active in Bangladesh, Georgia, Congo, Pakistan, and Uganda before its divestment. Pakistan In 2004, Warid Telecom Inter ...

for US$758 million in June 2007. Pakistani companies having branch in Singapore include

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

and HBL Pakistan. Pakistan was also instrumental in developing the Singaporean maritime industry. At the request of the Singaporean Government, Pakistan nominated

Captain Muhammad Jalaluddin Sayeed Muhammad Jalaluddin Sayeed was a Pakistani maritime sailor and industry veteran who was the founding director of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), a Singapore-based shipping company. He had vast experience as a maritime sailor. Biography Early life ...

to Singapore, where he was the founding director of the NOL shipping company.

Gwadar Port controversy

The government of Pakistan initially awarded port operation responsibilities of

Gwadar Port The Gwadar Port ( ur, ) is situated on the Arabian Sea at Gwadar in Balochistan province of Pakistan and is under the administrative control of the Maritime Secretary of Pakistan and operational control of the China Overseas Port Holding Com ...

Port of Singapore The Port of Singapore refers to the collective facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade and handles Singapore's harbours and shipping. It has been ranked as the top maritime capital of the world since 2015. Currently the world's se ...

(PSA), a subsidiary of the government of Singapore, in Feb 2007 for 40 years, expecting to take advantage of PSA expertise in maritime operation and increase trade. PSA operates 22 ports in 11 countries. However so far PSA has failed to make the port fully functional, bring in trade or make the necessary investment of US$525 million over the course of 5 years it initially agreed, which is now raising concerns amongst Pakistani and Chinese governments as the Gwadar Port was largely funded by the Chinese government. China provided up to US$198 million of the total US$248 million funding for phase one of the project. Chinese government interest to make Gwadar Port fully functional has been to gain a wider maritime supply route, especially for oil tanker shipment from Gulf, as shipment supply from Gwadar port can reach Eastern China through the

Karakoram Highway The Karakoram Highway ( ur, , translit=śāhirāh qarāquram; known by its initials KKH, also known as N-35 or National Highway 35 ( ur, ) or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) is a national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in ...

connecting China and Pakistan, or from a possible pipeline connecting Gwadar and Kashgar. Constructing a Kashgar-Gwadar railway line is also being considered. Gwadar is just 400 km from the

Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( fa, تنگه هرمز ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' ar, مَضيق هُرمُز ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the ...

, a major world oil supply line, and 1,500 km from

Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...

, China. This means oil shipment only need to travel a total distance of 2,000 km from the Strait of Hormuz to China, as opposed to 12,000 km of maritime distance from the Strait of Hormuz to the

Port of Shanghai The Port of Shanghai (), located in the vicinity of Shanghai, comprises a deep-sea port and a river port. The main port enterprise in Shanghai, the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), was established during the reconstitution of the S ...

via the Strait of Malacca. PSA has so far declined to make any press comment on this controversy. A fully operational Gwadar port will expand China's maritime trade links, possible naval presence in the Indian Ocean and possibly also reduce maritime volume heading towards China across the

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

and Singapore. The government of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

has initiated a challenge of port operation to PSA in Pakistan's Supreme Court. Pakistan chief of naval staff Admiral

Noman Bashir Noman Bashir (Urdu: نعمان بشير) was a Pakistan Navy admiral who served as the 18th Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) from 7 October 2008 until retiring on 7 October 2011. His appointment as Chief of Naval Staff was approved by President As ...

, has called for the cancellation of the port operation agreement with PSA, and suggested passing the operations to the Chinese government.

Official visits

Political

In November 2010, Pakistani Foreign Minister, Makhdoom

Shah Mahmood Qureshi Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi ( ur, ; born 22 June 1956) is a Pakistani politician who served as the 29th Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022. He previously held the post from 2008 to 2011. He has been a member of the Nationa ...

paid a 3-day official visit to Singapore on the invitation of Singaporean Foreign Minister

George Yeo George Yeo Yong-Boon ( zh, s=杨荣文, p=Yáng Róngwén; born 13 September 1954) is a Singaporean former politician and brigadier-general who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2004 and 2011. Yeo served in the Singapore Army an ...

. In Jul 2007, 10 Senior Officials from the Government of Punjab, Pakistan, visited Civil Service College in Singapore, at the invitation of Singapore's Head of Civil Service, Mr Peter Ho. Pakistan former PM

Shauket Aziz Shaukat Aziz ( ur, ; born 6 March 1949) is a Pakistani former banker and financier who served as 17th prime minister of Pakistan from 28 August 2004 to 15 November 2007, as well as the finance minister of Pakistan from 6 November 1999 to 15 ...

visited Singapore in May 2005, and was received by Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong.

Military

In Feb 2005, Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Ehsan ul Haq made a three-day introductory visit to Singapore at the invitation of Singaporean Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General

Ng Yat Chung Ng Yat Chung is a Singaporean former lieutenant-general who served as Chief of Defence Force between 2003 and 2007. Education Ng received his secondary and pre-university education in Victoria School and Hwa Chong Junior College respective ...

, and meet with Singaporean Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean at the Ministry of Defence.

Military collaboration

Pakistan-Singapore military collaboration can be largely regarded as being low-key and mostly under the pretext of multi-national military exercise, UN mission mandate and humanitarian missions. Singapore SAF Medical Corps deployment in East Pakistan in 1970 for humanitarian aid, Operation Palm, was Singapore military's first overseas deployment. For the Singapore first peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Special Mission in Afghanistan (UNSMA), Singapore military personnels were based in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

, the UNSMA headquarters. In July – August 2008,

Singapore Navy The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is the naval service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for defending the country against any sea-borne threats, and the protection of its sea lines of communications, that would comprom ...

and

Pakistan Navy ur, ہمارے لیے اللّٰہ کافی ہے اور وہ بہترین کارساز ہے۔ English language, English: Allah is Sufficient for us - and what an excellent (reliable) Trustee (of affairs) is He!(''Quran, Qur'an, Al Imran, 3:173' ...

along with other multi-national navies participated in Exercise KAKADU hosted by the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

to enhance interoperability among regional defence forces through conventional maritime training. Singaporean and Pakistani navies have also jointly participated in Ex Pacific Reach in November 2007 which is a submarine rescue exercise aimed at promoting greater understanding and interoperability amongst the participating navies.