During Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to Singapore, defense ministers Ng Eng Hen and Nobuo Kishi signed the Enhanced Memorandum on Defense Exchanges, following which Singapore and Japan also announced the start of negotiations on an agreement concerning the transfer of defense equipment and technology.

The agreement will establish a legal framework for the import and export of defense equipment and technology between the two countries, but does not oblige either party to sell or buy equipment from the other, the Singaporean Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Saturday.