Singapore (Xinjiapo Gongheguo, Republik Singapura, Singapur Kudiyarasu), is a small parliamentary republic of South-East Asia, former English colony today associated with the British Commonwealth, with the capital Singapore. The country lies one degree north of the equator, and is formed from the island of the same name, separated by the channel of Johor from the extreme southern tip of the peninsula of Malacca (Malaysia), to the south is the Straits of Singapore which separates from the Indonesian archipelago of Riau. The island of Singapore is almost completely flat, with small elevations in the central part of up to 164 metres with the Bukit Timah hill. Singapore, due to its geographical position, is one of the most important ports in the world and one of the largest financial, banking, economic and trade centres in south-east Asia. Agriculture is unimportant because of the scarcity of agricultural land available, there are grown coconut palm, rubber, tobacco and orchids. A certain importance is coated by farming and fishery sectors. The industries are developed in the mechanical, textile, petrochemical, shipbuilding, electronics and pharmaceuticals fields. Tourism in recent years has taken a significant importance in the country economy.