Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon committed in a dinner with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to support Canberra's bid to gain a seat in the UN Security Council.

He made the assurance at the end of Ms Gillard's visit to Singapore on Monday night before Singaporean and Australian business leaders and diplomats.

"Australia's broad international role is well-recognised.... We share a commitment to trade liberalization and strong global institutions such as the WTO (World Trade Organisation), APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation), G20 and IMF (International Monetary Fund)," Mr Lee was quoted by The Herald Sun.

For the year 2013-14, the UN Security Council has two non-permanent seats vacant and there are three country-candidates for those seats: Australia, Luxembourg and Finland. The election for the two slots is scheduled on October, which is the same month that the Singaporean leader will visit Australia.

The dinner celebrated six decades of the first Colombo Plan's scholars' arrival in Australia. Since the plan was implemented, about 1,000 Singaporeans have come to Australia and returned to the city-state.

Ms Gillard took advantage of the occasion to thank Singapore for its help when Australia suffered from floods in 2011.

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