Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam started his first state visit to Malaysia. The three-day state visit takes place from 13th-15th July, following his arrival in Malaysia on 12th July. The visit is at the invitation of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia. This follows Sultan Ibrahim’s state visit to Singapore in May 2024. This shows the continued commitment of both Singapore and Malaysia to strengthen bilateral ties.
President Tharman’s visit started in KL, where he received a state welcome at Istana Negara today morning. It is his first state visit to Malaysia, after becoming the Singapore’s President in 2023.
President and his wife, Jane Ittogi Shanmugaratnam, arrived at Istana Negara at 10AM and was welcomed by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim and Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, Queen of Malaysia. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his wife, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, were also there, together with Deputy Prime Ministers Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, and Cabinet ministers.
The welcoming ceremony started with Malaysia and Singapore national anthems performed by Central Band of the Royal Malay Regiment, with 21-gun salute. President Tharman then inspected a guard of honour made up of 4 officers and 103 personnel from the First Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment, guided by Major Mohd Masrur Hidayat Masri.
The president will meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to speak about the issues of mutual interest and ways to strengthen the cooperation of Malaysia and Singapore. Apart from that, he will meet leaders from the economic and finance sector, and take part in a breakfast roundtable with business leaders and attend a reception with Singaporeans who lives in Malaysia.
President will also travel to Selangor to meet Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah and Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amiruddin Shari. This shows the close cooperation in topics such as trade, investment, sustainability and people ties.
According to Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Singapore is still Malaysia’s second-largest trading partner in the world and it’s largest trading partner within ASEAN
Trade between Malaysia and Singapore will continue to grow. In 2025, bilateral trade is RM402.35 billion (US$93.97 billion), a 1.5% increased from 2024. Between January and May 2026, trade rose by 14.5% to RM189.90 billion (US$47.87 billion), compared with RM165.93 billion (US$37.65 billion) in 2025.
The president’s visit is expected to make the friendship stronger between Malaysia and Singapore and create more opportunities for cooperation in the future.
Sources: The Straits Times, MFA, MalayMail
