SMALL and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Italy and Singapore are being encouraged to work together.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed on July 24 between the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and enterprise development agency Spring Singapore.

The MOU aims to boost the number of business tie-ups between SMEs in both countries.

It focuses on a few sectors - food, fashion, lifestyle products, conventional and alternative energies, and industrial machineries.