British FM Ends 3-Nation Southeast Asia Trip in Singapore

Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab participates in a meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, Jun. 22, 2021. Photo: Hau Dinh / AP

BANGKOK (AP) — British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab met with business leaders and officials in Singapore on Thursday as he wrapped up a three-nation trip to Southeast Asia aimed at strengthening his country’s ties to the region.

Raab’s trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore is part of a policy “tilt” toward the Indo-Pacific region recommended by a recent British government review of defense and foreign policy in response to China’s growing influence on the world stage.

While in the region he officially launched Britain’s bid to join a trans-Pacific trade bloc, known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and lobbied for “dialogue partnership” status with the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

In Singapore, he met with his counterpart, Vivian Balakrishnan, to discuss both of those initiatives, Raab said on Twitter.

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The two also talked about a “shared approach towards addressing regional priorities such as climate change, Myanmar, travel and recovery from COVID-19,” he wrote.

Before his talks with the foreign minister, Raab took part in a meeting with British and Singaporean business representatives, discussing “supply chain digitalization,” which he said could save 4 billion paper documents globally per year.

The trip was Raab’s fifth visit to Southeast Asia as foreign secretary.