President Tony Tan Keng Yam will start a six-day working visit to Germany from today.

Dr Tan will attend the 66th Lindau Meeting in his capacity as a member of the Honorary Senate of the Foundation Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. The foundation supports science and research, especially in fields for which Nobel prizes are awarded.

Its honorary senate is made up of luminaries in science, politics and business and they include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Professor Joachim Milberg, the founding president of the German Academy of Science and Engineering or acatech. They advise the foundation on the meetings. Dr Tan was inducted into the honorary senate in July 2012, the first Singaporean and only the second Asian to be admitted.

The move was in recognition of his efforts to grow Singapore's education and research fields through his role as education minister and later as founding chairman of the National Research Foundation.

The annual Lindau Meeting gathers 30 to 40 Nobel laureates to meet the next generation of scientists from around the world, including undergraduates, PhD students and post-doctorate researchers.

The meetings focus alternately on physiology and medicine, physics, and chemistry. This year's meeting will be on physics.

While in Germany, Dr Tan will also meet senior officials from Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Bundesbank, said a statement from the President's Office yesterday.

He will host a reception for Singaporeans in Frankfurt as well.

Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob will carry out the duties of the office of the President during Dr Tan's absence.