PUBLISHED ONMay 03, 2026 7:00 AMBYSean LerNew Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is on a three-day official visit to Singapore from Sunday (May 3) to May 5.
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on Sunday that the visit builds on the New Zealand-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) launched in October 2025.
The bilateral relations between both countries were elevated from an enhanced partnership in 2019, to a CSP during PM Wong's first official visit to New Zealand last year.
Under the CSP, Singapore and New Zealand will broaden and strengthen existing partnerships across six pillars: trade and economics; security and defence; science, technology and innovation; people-to-people links; climate change and green economy; and supply chains and connectivity.
This includes broadening and strengthening existing partnerships in areas such as supply chain resilience and security, while breaking new ground in trade and economics.
Both countries will also discuss a new green economy partnership — to integrate trade and climate action — so that growth and sustainability can reinforce each other.
The CSP also see further investment and capital markets collaboration to enable New Zealand companies to use Singapore as a springboard into Southeast Asia.
As part of the "more ambitious and innovation projects" to be pursued under the CSP, the two leaders agreed during their last meeting to establish an agreement on supply chain resilience — the Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies.
According to the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), the agreement is aimed at ensuring that New Zealanders and Singaporeans can continue to trade essential products during times of crisis.
"Both parties have agreed not to impose specific export prohibitions on an agreed list of goods," MFAT said on its website, adding that the list includes fuel, medical and construction-related products.
It added that this will allow businesses and consumers to have greater confidence in the continuing trade of critical goods between the two countries.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Singapore and New Zealand formed an air freight connectivity partnership to keep food and medical supplies flowing between them.
Apart from the agreement's signing and a joint press conference with PM Wong, Luxon will also call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
Luxon will also deliver opening remarks at the Singapore-New Zealand Leadership Forum on Monday morning.
In the afternoon, he will be hosted to visits at Jurong Island and Changi Naval Base.
The upcoming visit will be his second visit to Singapore as prime minister. He first visited in April 2024.
Last year, New Zealand was Singapore's 31st largest goods trading partner while Singapore was its ninth largest export destination and sixth largest import origin economy.
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