SINGAPORE - Six agreements were inked between Singapore and the Russian Federation at a high-level bilateral commission to cooperate in various areas, including digital development, innovation, and education.
Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam witnessed the signing of these agreements with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov at the 10th Session of the High-Level Russia-Singapore Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) in Vladivostok, Russia, last Friday (Sept 6).
These agreements include memorandums of understanding to develop a programme for technical education based on Singapore's experience with its Institute of Technical Education, and for collaboration between the National University of Singapore's Centre for Healthy Ageing and Russian sport retailer Sportmaster to conduct research on clothing materials for healthy ageing.
Mr Tharman, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, and Mr Akimov reaffirmed the multifaceted and growing ties between the two countries, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
"They underscored the important role that the IGC has played in strengthening bilateral cooperation over the decade," MFA said, adding that the leaders encouraged both sides to continue collaborations and to explore further opportunities in the Russian Far East.
Started in 2010, the IGC has promoted bilateral trade and investments, and also increased cooperation in sectors like transport, infrastructure, agriculture, culture and legal cooperation.
The next session of the IGC will be held in Singapore next year.
The other agreements signed last Friday were:
- A road map between the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise and the St Petersburg government to signal the continued commitment to the speedy implementation of a Urban Transport Management System project in St Petersburg city;
- An agreement between Enterprise Singapore and Sistema Asia, Mobile TeleSystems and Skolkovo Foundation to cooperate in innovation, technology transfer, business outreach and start-up ecosystem development;
- A memorandum of cooperation between autonomous non-commercial organisation Far East Investment and Export Agency and CrimsonLogic to explore collaboration in digital solutions to facilitate government services, trade and the business climate;
- A memorandum of understanding between Sportmaster's Singapore office, the Internet Initiative Development Fund and Intellectual Property Office of Singapore to collaborate on tech development and digital cross-platform products.
