Singapore Defence

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Singapore Defence

Defence links, which date back to 1955, form a prominent part of the New Zealand-Singapore relationship.  Arrangements for training assistance and other cooperation were formalised in a bilateral agreement concluded between the two Governments in 1971 in parallel with the establishment of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA - a joint defence arrangement between Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom). New Zealand undertakes an extensive range of naval, air and army exercises with Singapore, conducted both bilaterally and multilaterally, to the point where, in overall activity terms, Singapore is New Zealand's second largest defence partner in the Asia-Pacific after Australia.

The maturity of the Singapore-New Zealand defence relationship and a history of defence cooperation are now yielding significant benefits for both countries.  The most obvious example of this was the smooth integration of Singaporean troops into the New Zealand Area of Operations in Timor-Leste. The attachment of a Singaporean platoon to the New Zealand battalion in Timor-Leste in 2001 was Singapore's first experience in contributing ground troops to a peacekeeping operation. Singaporean forces have also operated with the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan, Afghanistan.