Merz in Singapore: an orchid in his name and a keynote on the Indo-Pacific
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has begun his Asia trip in Singapore, with talks with Prime Minister Wong, a keynote speech and an orchid named after him.
Archive image · Photo: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) landed in Singapore on Tuesday morning local time, starting a four-day Asia trip that continues to Japan and South Korea. According to dpa, it is his third trip to Asia as chancellor. Singapore's foreign ministry said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong would host an official welcome ceremony, followed by a call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and a lunch with Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
At Parliament House, an orchid was named "Vanda Friedrich Merz", a tradition under which the city-state has previously honored Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz. Merz called it "a great honor", dpa reported. He is also delivering the 49th Singapore Lecture, titled "Germany and the Indo-Pacific: Partnership, Competitiveness, and Resilience in a Changing World".
According to the German government, about 2,400 German companies employing some 45,000 people operate in Singapore, and annual trade is worth 11.8 billion euros. Government sources said the trip is meant to reduce dependence on China; a joint declaration is to set out a work plan for the strategic partnership.