The U.S. and Singaporean governments have signed an agreement that aims to expand bilateral defense relations between the two countries, DoD News reported Monday.Defense Secretary Ashton Carter signed the enhanced defense cooperation agreement with Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen at the Defense Department Monday.
According to a joint statement secured by DoD News, both countries will work to improve defense collaboration in technology, policy, military and strategic areas as well as efforts to counter transnational terrorism and piracy.
Singapore and the U.S. will also work to enhance dialogue among defense establishments and collaborate on new areas such as cyber defense, public communications, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance and biosecurity, according to the report.
Carter and Ng signed the agreement in line with the deployment of the U.S. Navy’s P-8 Poseidon aircraft in Singapore.
Poseidon’s eight-day deployment in Singapore aims to promote regional military interoperability through multilateral exercises and support maritime security and disaster relief efforts, the joint statement said.
The defense chiefs said they also plan to rotationally station a third U.S. littoral combat ship in Singapore by 2016 following the deployment of USS Fort Worth in 2014 under the 2005 Strategic Framework Agreement, the report noted.
