Singapore and US ink 123 Agreement on civil nuclear co-operation during Blinken tour of eastern Asia

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Singapore yesterday as part of his ongoing 10-day tour of Asia. During the visit, he represented the United States of America in the signing of “a 123 Agreement on civil nuclear co-operation with Singapore”.

In Singapore, Secretary Blinken met Prime Minister Lawrence Wong; former PM and present Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong; and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan; and also attended a gathering at the US Embassy in Singapore.

Blinken’s other stops on this trip (July 25-August 3) are Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, and Mongolia. The US Embassy in Singapore said in a media release that this was his “18th trip to the Indo-Pacific region since becoming Secretary”.

A “123 Agreement” referred to Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act, which “generally requires the conclusion of a peaceful nuclear co-operation agreement for significant transfers of nuclear material or equipment from the United States”, said Energy.gov, website of the National Nuclear Security Administration, United States.

123 Agreements “facilitate co-operation in other areas, such as technical exchanges, scientific research, and safeguards discussions”, the website added.

Posting a photo of himself with minister Balakrishnan, the visiting US secretary wrote on July 31 on X: “Today I signed a 123 Agreement on civil nuclear co-operation with Singapore. In addition to deepening our energy partnership with Singapore, they will also join our FIRST program to build capabilities to further explore clean, secure, and safe nuclear energy.”

Shortly before this, PM Wong posted on X a photo of himself, shaking hands with Blinken, and wrote: “Had a good meeting with @SecBlinken. Our bilateral relationship is in excellent shape with substantial ties across many areas, from the economy to defence and security. We’re expanding co-operation to new areas, including AI, as well as civilian nuclear energy.”

Wong added in a related post: “The US has to deal with many pre-occupations around the world. We are glad they remained committed to engaging Southeast Asia. Look forward to strengthening the partnership with the US, both bilaterally and with ASEAN.”