French President Macron to visit Singapore, exchange agreements on defence, AI
SINGAPORE – France and Singapore will exchange agreements to cooperate in areas including defence and security, law, artificial intelligence and transport during a state visit by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Macron will be in Singapore between May 29 and May 30, and will deliver the keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue on May 30 – the first European leader to do so.
The state visit will also commemorate 60 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and France, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on May 29.
This is the third leg of a South-East Asia tour by Mr Macron. He is coming from Indonesia where he signed a preliminary defence pact that could lead to new orders of French military equipment, and before that was in Vietnam where he inked a deal for Airbus planes.
On the first day of his visit to Singapore, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his wife Mrs Wong will host a dinner for Mr and Mrs Macron.
The next day, Mr Macron will receive a ceremonial welcome at Parliament House, where he will call on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and attend a state banquet hosted by Mr Tharman in honour of him and Mrs Macron.
He will also meet again with PM Wong, who is also Finance Minister, and they will together witness the exchange of the Memoranda of Understanding on the areas of cooperation.
Mr Macron will be accompanied by French leaders including Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty Eric Lombard, Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, Minister Delegate for AI and Digital Affairs Clara Chappaz.
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