Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Singapore)

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Agency overview
Formed	9 August 1965; 56 years ago (1965-08-09)
Jurisdiction	Government of Singapore
Headquarters	1 Sherwood Road, Singapore 248163
Motto	Establishing Our Place in the World
Employees	1,616 (2018)[1]
Annual budget	S$466.70 million (2019) [1]
Ministers responsible	Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister Maliki Osman, Second Minister Sim Ann, Senior Minister of State
Agency executives	Chee Wee Kiong, Permanent Secretary Stanley Loh[2], Second Permanent Secretary Ng Teck Hean, Deputy Secretary (Asia Pacific and SE Asia) Ong Eng Chuan, Deputy Secretary (Management)
Child agency	All diplomatic missions of Singapore
Website	www.mfa.gov.sg

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA; Chinese: 新加坡外交部; Malay: Kementerian Ehwal Luar Negeri; Tamil: வெளியுறவு அமைச்சு) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore responsible for conducting and managing diplomatic relations between Singapore and other countries and regions.

History[]

The Ministry was established on 9 August 1965.

Responsibilities[]

The MFA provides consular assistance to Singaporeans travelling, working and studying overseas.

Organisational structure[]

The Ministry now has 50 overseas missions including 7 High Commissions, 21 Embassies, 4 Permanent Missions to the United Nations, and 17 consulates. Singapore has appointed 31 Honorary Consuls-General/Consuls abroad and has 46 non-resident Ambassadors and High Commissioners based in Singapore.

The MFA is currently divided into 11 Directorates which deal with political and economic matters, and 7 Directorates which oversee matters relating to protocol, consular issues and the Singapore Cooperation Programme among others. The Corporate Affairs Directorate oversees organisational and resource management while the Human Resource Directorate and Diplomatic Academy manage the development of personnel and training.

Impact[]

Singapore maintains diplomatic relations with 188 countries. In Singapore, there are 70 resident foreign Embassies and High Commissions, 43 foreign Consulates, and 11 International Organisations based in Singapore. In addition, more than 60 non-resident foreign Ambassadors are accredited to Singapore.

Ministers[]

The Ministry is headed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who is appointed as part of the Cabinet of Singapore. The incumbent minister is Vivian Balakrishnan.

Key[]

  People's Action Party

List of ministers[]

Portrait	Name	Party	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Ref.
	Sinnathamby Rajaratnam	PAP	9 August 1965	30 May 1980	14 years, 295 days
	Suppiah Dhanabalan	PAP	1 June 1980	12 September 1988	8 years, 103 days
	Wong Kan Seng	PAP	13 September 1988	1 January 1994	5 years, 110 days
	Shunmugam Jayakumar	PAP	2 January 1994	12 August 2004	10 years, 223 days
	George Yeo	PAP	12 August 2004	20 May 2011	6 years, 281 days
	Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam	PAP	21 May 2011	30 September 2015	4 years, 132 days
	Vivian Balakrishnan	PAP	1 October 2015	present	6 years, 122 days	[3][4]

See also[]

• List of current foreign ministers
• Foreign relations of Singapore
• List of diplomatic missions of Singapore

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Singapore).

• Official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs