The United States of America President Barrack Obama welcomed Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong to historic dinner who was in an official visit.
Lee’s official visit will mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Singapore. Daniel Krittenbrink, a White House adviser on policy toward Asia, described the Southeast Asian country as “one of our strongest, closest and most reliable partners.”
The U.S. and Singapore are partners in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, which includes 10 other countries but is stalled in Congress and opposed by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the respective Democratic and Republican presidential nominees.
Singapore is also a member of the U.S.-led coalition trying to eradicate the Islamic State group, and both signed onto the last year’s Paris climate agreement. More than 3,500 U.S. companies have a presence in Singapore, Krittenbrink said.
Dinner will open with Maryland blue crab salad tossed in an Asian citrus curd and rimmed with slivered baby cucumbers. The salad course will showcase heirloom tomatoes from Ohio paired with lime basil from Michelle Obama’s garden, as well as mangoes, cucumbers, green papayas and soursop sorbet.