SINGAPORE, May 30 (AFP) - 10:46 GMT - Singapore and France on
Friday signed an agreement to establish a joint research laboratory
in areas important to national defence and security.
French Minister for Defence Michele Alliot-Marie and Singapore
Defence Minister Tony Tan witnessed the signing of the memorandum
of understanding on the sidelines of a security conference of
Asia-Pacific countries and key western allies.
The laboratory, with an initial funding of two million Singapore
dollars (1.16 million US), will be launched in France in
November.
It will be a partnership between Singapore's Defence Science and
Technology Agency (DSTA) and France's leading aerospace research
agency ONERA.
Other partners are the National University of Singapore and leading
French university Supelec. The laboratory will be administered as a
unit of Supelec and located at its Gif-sur-Yvette campus near
Paris.
DSTA chairman and permanent secretary for defence Peter Ho said the
initial focus for research will be in the areas of electromagnetics
and radar.
"In the future, research may be expanded to other important areas
like aerodynamics," Ho said in a speech at the signing ceremonies
here.
"Singapore and France are good friends. We share many common
outlooks. We have worked together to strengthen links between
Europe and Asia," he said.
Ho described France as a "major partner" in defence technology for
the small but affluent Southest Asian city-state.
DSTA is currently working with European naval shipbuilder DCN and
French research laboratories on the design and development of the
new stealth frigates for the Singapore navy, he said.
France and Singapore have also cooperated on research and
development in areas like chemical and biological defence and
underwater technologies.
On Friday, Alliot-Marie met with Defence Minister Tan and Education
Minister Teo Chee Hean, who will become defence minister on August
1.
She will call on Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Senior Minister
Lee Kuan Yew on Saturday and attend the Asia Security Conference
sponsored by the London-based International Institute for Strategic
Studies.