The defence ministries of Singapore and Australia on Monday (July 27) announced the signing of an arrangement to strengthen defence industrial cooperation, which they said will support their two countries' armed forces.
Singapore's Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said in a statement that the Industrial Base Resiliency Arrangement (IBRA) was signed during Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing's working visit to Australia for the 15th Singapore-Australia joint ministerial committee meeting.
The arrangement was signed by Permanent Secretary for Defence Development Melvyn Ong and Australia's National Armaments Director Nadine Williams, and witnessed by the two defence ministers.
It gives effect to the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on enhanced defence cooperation — inked by Chan and his Australian counterpart Richard Marles — during Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's official visit in October last year.
Under the MOU, Singapore and Australia agreed to mutually enhance supply chain resilience through the establishment of a comprehensive bilateral arrangement, and to explore options for cooperation such as in the cross-sustainment of common defence platforms, examination of priority delivery requests, and facilitation of information exchanges to mitigate supply chain risk.
"The IBRA fulfils that commitment, translating it into a concrete operational framework," Mindef said in a statement after the signing.
"By establishing clear channels for cooperation before disruption occurs, the IBRA enables both countries to respond more swiftly and effectively when supply chains come under stress."
Speaking at a joint press conference after the signing, Chan highlighted that Singapore and Australia share "a lot of strategic interests".
"...we complement one another in many of the things that we do. We help each other extend our strategic reach; we help each other make sure that we have that resilience in a much more complex world."
Contextualising the IRBA, Chan said that the arrangement allows the two countries to know that they can depend on each other, not just in times of peace, but also in the toughest of times.
"That we can watch out for one another and ensure that we can have continuity in our operations, very much like what we achieved on the economic front," he added.
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