SINGAPORE – Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Education Maliki Osman visited the Tel Aviv University and the Holon Institute of Technology and met their respective presidents, Professor Ariel Porat and Professor Eduard Yakobov, to exchange views on future-proofing education and increasing collaboration between academia and industry.

During the meetings, Dr Maliki welcomed opportunities for further collaboration and exchanges between the two universities and Singapore’s institutes of higher learning, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Wednesday.

Dr Maliki, who is also Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, is on a working visit to Israel where he also met Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy director general (DDG) for Asia and the Pacific Rafael Harpaz and the DDG for Euro-Asia and West Balkans Simona Halperin, who was Israel’s Ambassador to Singapore from 2017 to 2019.

“They reaffirmed the excellent relations between Singapore and Israel and reviewed global and regional developments, including the Middle East Peace Process,” said MFA.

“Minister Maliki reiterated Singapore’s support for a negotiated two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace and security,” the ministry added.

Dr Maliki, who is on an eight-day working visit to the Palestinian territories, Israel and Jordan until Oct 24, departed for Jordan on Wednesday for the next leg of his visit.