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US VP Kamala Harris to meet President Halimah, PM Lee during Singapore visit

Staff Writer
·Editorial team
·2-min read
President Joe Biden listens as Vice President Kamala Harris speaks before he signs a bill in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021, that awards Congressional gold medals to law enforcement officers that protected members of Congress at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Joe Biden listens as Vice President Kamala Harris speaks before he signs a bill in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington on 5 August, 2021. (PHOTO: AP)

SINGAPORE — US Vice President (VP) Kamala Harris will meet with President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during her three-day visit to Singapore from Sunday (22 August), in her first visit to Asia.

During her visit, Harris will have a meeting and virtual joint press conference with Lee at the Istana on 23 August. The event will be live-streamed on PM Lee's Facebook page from 12pm on the same day.

Harris, who will be accompanied by senior officials from her Office, the National Security Council and the Department of State, is expected to discuss with Lee about regional security, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and other issues.

She will have a new orchid hybrid named in her honour during a ceremony at the Istana.

Harris will also stop at the Changi Naval Base, where she will address US sailors aboard the visiting USS Tulsa.

On 24 August, Harris will deliver a policy speech and participate in a roundtable with the business community involving Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong.

Authorities here have said that Harris and her team would have to undergo frequent COVID-19 testing and be restricted to a controlled itinerary of safer places.

Following her visit to Singapore, Harris will depart for Vietnam. In Hanoi, she will meet with leaders including President Ngyuen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Ming Chinh as well as attend the opening of a regional branch of the US Centers for Disease Control.

Harris, an Asian-American whose mother was of Indian origin, will be the first US VP to visit Vietnam.

The visit to Southeast Asia will be also her second foreign trip as US VP. In June, she went to Guatemala and Mexico for meetings related to the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border.

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