Singapore, France boost innovation cooperation hinh anh 1French President Francois Hollande meets Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during his two - day visit to Singapore (Photo: The Straits Times)
 
Singapore (VNA) - Singapore and France have agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in areas such as space technology, smart city planning, financial technology and health and biomedical sciences.

During the high-level visit to Singapore by French President Francois Hollande on March 26-27, the two sides also reaffirmed their bilateral relations in traditional areas such as defence, investment and trade, culture and education, while opening up new cooperation in innovation, a priority in growth strategy of both countries. 

The two countries decided to declare 2018 as the France-Singapore Year of Innovation with events that encourage more collaboration in innovation to be held in both countries. They prioritise the strengthening of their innovation ecosystems, including programmes to promote research and development, and support entrepreneurs.

Within the framework of the visit, the France – Singapore Innovation Forum was held to boost innovation ties. Ten agreements were signed at the forum, which are expected to pave the way for research collaboration in digital technology, energy and electric vehicles.

French and Singaporean agencies, companies, research organisations and institutions of higher learning have been working together in projects involving not only cutting-edge science-technology, but also in transport, urban management, nuclear safety and satellite technology.

Four more agreements were also inked, covering the fields of innovation and research collaboration, space research, renewable energy and financial information exchange.

France is Singapore’s second largest trade partner and sixth biggest investor. More than 1,800 French businesses and 15,000 French nationals are residing and working in Singapore. -VNA
VNA