SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has had a very busy schedule during his official working visit to Washington DC this week, meeting US President Donald Trump, National Security Advisor H R McMaster, White House officials and Cabinet Secretaries.
But Mr Lee found time to see the sights during what he described as “a short break” in his schedule, dropping by the National Air and Space Museum on Wednesday morning (Oct 25).
“The museum holds the world’s largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft, and even has the original plane built by the Wright brothers!” Mr Lee wrote in a Facebook post.
“On Monday, SIA signed the deal with Boeing to purchase twenty 777-9 aircraft and nineteen 787-10 Dreamliner jets, so it was fascinating to see how American aviation began.”
The original Wright Flyer on display at the Air and Space Museum. (Photo: MCI/Kenji Soon)
Mr Lee shared photos from his tour of the museum, including one of a lunar module that was used for ground testing before the successful moon landing in 1969, as well as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, a joint venture that marked a thaw in the Cold War between both the US and Soviet Union.
The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. (Photo: Lee Hsien Loong/Facebook)
He also ran into a family visiting Washington DC from Singapore.
Mr Lee with the Yeo family, visiting from Singapore. Washington DC is one of their stops on the way to Niagara Falls. (Photo: MCI/Kenji Soon)
Mr Lee added that he managed to try the famous Shake Shack burger over the weekend. He and his wife were accompanied by Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States Mr Ashok Kumar Mirpuri.
“My children told me I had to do it,” Mr Lee had said of his visit to Shake Shack when asked at the Economic Club of Washington DC on Monday about his plans for sightseeing.
The manager of the Shake Shack outlet, Ivory, provided “service with a smile”, Mr Lee said in his Facebook post.
Ivory, the manager of the Shake Shack outlet. (Photo: Lee Hsien Loong/Facebook)
Mr Lee’s visit will conclude on Oct 26. Mr Lee and Mr Trump issued a joint statement on Tuesday, reaffirming the two countries’ strong and enduring partnership especially in the economic, defence, security, and people-to-people spheres.
Mr Lee will have a dialogue at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday. He will also have meetings with Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.
Mr Lee is scheduled to meet key Congressional leaders, including Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Ben Cardin, and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
