Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will make an official working visit to Washington from Oct 22 to 26 at the invitation of United States President Donald Trump, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said yesterday.

Professor Joseph Liow, dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said Mr Lee’s first visit to the White House under the Trump administration will be an opportunity for both sides to build on what their leaders established when they first met in Hamburg, Germany, in July, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Leaders’ Summit.

“Given concerns that the current U.S. administration might not have much bandwidth for South-east Asia, the visit is an opportunity for a regional leader to reinforce the importance of U.S.-South-east Asia relations,” Prof Liow said.

“From the Singapore perspective, there will be interest in understanding the Trump administration’s view on how it wishes to approach trade and economic integration in the region, and what sort of role they think the U.S. can play in this,” Prof Liow said.