REGULAR MEETINGS ON BILATERAL ISSUES
The JS-SEZ agreement has been a year in the making as officials from both sides thrashed out a deal, in what Mr Anwar had described earlier on Tuesday as a unique and rare initiative between two countries working as a team.
Moving forward, Mr Anwar said he and Mr Wong have also agreed to meet on a “quarterly basis” to review the progress of resolving outstanding bilateral issues between the two countries. These include areas like water supply, airspace management and maritime boundaries.
Mr Wong said in the wrap-up interview on Tuesday that the two sides have made “some progress” on these complex issues but have “understandably” not come to a resolution, citing differences of views.
“So, both Prime Minister Anwar and I are fully committed to continuing the engagement and discussions, and hopefully with the nudging from the prime ministers, with the constant engagements we have and continued dialogue, we can see some progress by the next leaders’ retreat across all three bilateral issues,” he said.
Mr Wong said the leaders are also working out the schedules for the quarterly meetings, with ample opportunities to meet until the next leaders’ retreat in Singapore later this year.
“We are discussing a few platforms where we might do so, including possibly at Johor-Singapore SEZ,” he said.
“So, there will be some of these that we will find suitable milestones to get together, to meet, and when we do so, we can use these occasions to take stock of the discussions on the outstanding bilateral issues and make sure that we continue to make progress on that.”
Mr Wong said he has had several occasions – including at Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and multilateral forums – to meet Mr Anwar, and that the both of them have built up a “good friendship” with a relationship based on mutual trust and understanding.
“So, that sets the tone for the overall relationship – the relationship amongst the ministers and officials – and also for us to work together on bilateral issues,” he said.
“I would say that we are on a very strong foundation, starting with the leadership level. And among the ministers, many of them have been interacting with one another on numerous occasions as well including last night and today at the leaders’ retreat.”
Mr Wong added that he had also suggested that both sides restart “civil service games” that they used to hold as a tradition.
“So, it’s not always about work, it’s not always about officials coming together to talk business or negotiate and to engage on difficult issues,” he said.
“But informally as well, there is an opportunity for us to get together, relax and get to know one another and hopefully more of these exchanges can continue to happen across the board.”
