During the visit, Badr Jafar, UAE's Special Envoy for Business and Philanthropy, engaged with leaders from investment entities, universities, and charitable organizations, including Temasek, PSA International, and the National University of Singapore.
The purpose of the visit was to examine ways to enhance the already significant economic ties between the UAE and Singapore and to broaden collaboration in new sectors such as investment, industry, education, and philanthropy.
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In the course of the programme, H.E. Jafar engaged with the heads of the Singapore Economic Development Board, Enterprise Singapore and JTC Corporation; Temasek, Macquarie Group and PSA International; the National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University; alongside the Philanthropy Asia Alliance and the Asia Philanthropy Circle, along with the precision health firm AMILI.
Business and investment sessions examined ways the bilateral partnership can foster broader development across the regions by enhancing mutual market access, linking long-term capital with businesses and infrastructure, and assisting companies in entering new markets. Discussions on industrial growth and logistics encompassed advanced manufacturing, port operations, freight connectivity, and infrastructure designed for the future.
Conversations with universities and philanthropic organizations focused on enhancing talent and research connections, promoting the ethical application of emerging technologies, and leveraging adaptable funding for locally driven solutions. They demonstrated the increasing importance of strategic philanthropy in conjunction with government and business, especially where initial risk-taking can assist viable methods in validating their worth and achieving broader impact.
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H.E. Jafar says, “Singapore and the UAE have each turned connection into a competitive advantage. Both built open economies, invested for the long term and made themselves platforms for regions far larger than their own borders. As capital, technology and supply chains are reorganized, trusted connectors matter more, not less”.
“The task now is to turn a strong bilateral foundation into practical partnerships across enterprise, infrastructure, talent and philanthropy. Governments provide direction and confidence, business turns opportunity into productive capacity, and strategic philanthropy takes the early risks and widens participation. When those three work together, a relationship between two countries becomes a platform for shared growth across all the markets they connect”.
Singapore's biggest trading partner in the Middle East is the UAE. Bilateral goods trade totaled USD 43.71 billion in 2025, an increase from USD 39.32 billion in the previous year, with non-oil trade growing to USD 6.54 billion from USD 5.2 billion.
Direct investment from the UAE in Singapore reached USD 5.12 billion from 2021 to 2025, with a total of 230 Singaporean firms operating in the UAE from 2003 to August 2026.
Key areas for Singaporean investments in the UAE encompass real estate, hospitality & tourism, coal, oil & gas, telecommunications, and transportation & warehousing. The visit enhances the UAE-Singapore Comprehensive Partnership and follows the 17th Abu Dhabi-Singapore Joint Forum in Singapore on 28 September, which resulted in a memorandum of understanding for investment cooperation, a letter of intent for establishing an industrial corridor between Abu Dhabi and Singapore, and revitalized collaboration on public sector capabilities.
The agenda also featured the 24th Forbes Global CEO Conference, the 13th Milken Institute Asia Summit, Temasek Foundation’s Asia Leaders Connect 2026, the Asia Leaders Series Regional Meeting on ‘Tech Supremacy’, and a Financial Times forum focused on family philanthropy in Asia. The conversations centered on managing swift progress in artificial intelligence, changing trade dynamics, and escalating strategic rivalry, while enhancing collaboration and inclusive development.
Speakers during the week's events featured Singapore's Prime Minister His Excellency Lawrence Wong; Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media; Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates; Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, CEO of Temasek; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of Biocon; and His Excellency Mohammad Alhawi, Undersecretary of the UAE Ministry of Investment.
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The visit emphasizes the importance of business and philanthropic networks in UAE-Singapore relations and in enhancing the exchange of capital, knowledge, and opportunities between the UAE and Asia.