Law minister Shanmugam off to US from May 12-16

SINGAPORE - Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam will visit Washington DC, United States of America, from May 12 to 16, 2014.

During the visit, Mr Shanmugam will meet with his counterparts US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Attorney General Eric Holder.

He will also meet with Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, several key members of the US Senate, senior Administration officials, prominent American strategic thinkers, and members of the media.

He will lead the Singapore delegation for the 3rd Singapore-US Strategic Dialogue, a Track 1.5 dialogue for Singapore and US policy-makers, think-tank, media, and corporate representatives to exchange views on areas of mutual interest.

He will also deliver the Plenary Speech at the American Jewish Committee Global Forum.

Singapore and the US enjoy close and long-standing relations. Mr Shanmugam, Secretary Kerry and Attorney General Holder will discuss ways to further enhance our strong bilateral cooperation. This includes joint training programmes for ASEAN countries through the Singapore-US Third Country Training Programme (TCTP).

Mr Shanmugam will also engage his interlocutors on regional and international developments, particularly the US' strong engagement of Asia, the ASEAN-US relationship, and the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.

Mr Shanmugam will be accompanied by Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of National Development Lee Yi Shyan; Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information and Ministry of Education Sim Ann; Minister of State, Ministry of National Development Desmond Lee, Member of Parliament Dr Janil Puthucheary, and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

spanaech@sph.com.sg