Notably, Singapore was the UK’s 20th largest trading partner in 2022, with total trade in goods and services between the two countries amounting to GBP20.2 billion ($34.6 billion) and accounting for 1.2% of total UK trade. This was an increase of 16.6% or GBP2.9 billion in current prices from 2021, the year in which foreign direct investment from the UK in Singapore reached GBP11.4 billion.
Some 60 years since British rule over the island of Singapore ended, the partnership between the two countries has remained resolute across the often complicated spectrum of international relations. Considering Prof Tommy Koh — one of Singapore’s foremost diplomats — famously remarked that British rule in Singapore was “60% good and 40% bad”, this steadfast bilateral relationship might not surprise observers.
Although the origins of the relationship are not to be overlooked, the multi-faceted partnership between Singapore and the UK goes further than what might simply be described as a post-colonial hangup.
