Mr Rusli Zainal, Governor of Riau Province of Indonesia;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

1. First of all, thank you Governor Rusli Zainal for the excellent hospitality that you have extended to me and the Singapore delegation today.

2. I am very pleased with what we have achieved today for the Riau Vegetable Project. The establishment of the demonstration farm and the processing center is an important milestone for the Project. It is an excellent example of a joint collaboration that benefits both our countries. I look forward to these facilities being adopted and replicated by other farms, and for output to be scaled up to achieve greater commercial viability.

3. We also had fruitful discussions today. Indonesia has many opportunities for investments in agribusiness while Singapore is encouraging its private sector to venture into foreign agribusiness and food production. There is a lot of potential for both sides to facilitate private sector collaboration. We should continue to work closely together and discuss further possible areas of collaboration that would be mutually beneficial to both countries.

4. Once again, I thank you for your gracious hospitality, and I look forward to seeing both of you in Singapore.

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