Transcript of Speech by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the State Banquet in honour of French President Emmanuel Macron at Raffles Hotel on 30 May 2025

Your Excellency President Emmanuel Macron

Her Excellency Mrs Brigitte Macron

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen,

Bienvenue à Singapour.

1.   My wife and I are delighted to welcome President Macron and Mrs Macron to Singapore.

2.   Your State Visit marks 60 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and France.  But our connections in fact go back much further – to the early 1800s, when two French naturalists, Alfred Duvaucel and Pierre-Médard Diard, arrived in Singapore. They left behind a remarkable collection of specimens, notes, and drawings – capturing the evolution of Singapore’s natural history. Today, some 120 of their drawings are housed at the Museum of Natural History in Paris.

3.   French pioneers also left their mark on the country’s early development. Father Jean-Marie Beurel, well known to several of you who went to Catholic schools in Singapore, was more than a clergyman – he was an educator and an institution-builder.  He was instrumental in establishing schools like St Joseph’s Institution and the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Singapore.  Father Beurel also oversaw the construction of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd – still standing today as one of Singapore’s most enduring landmarks.

4.   Our more recent history has seen layer being added on layer of French-Singapore ties, year by year. France became in 2012 the first European nation with whom Singapore established a Strategic Partnership. Earlier today, President Macron and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong launched the Singapore-France Comprehensive Strategic Partnership or CSP – again Singapore’s first with European nation.

5.   The CSP reflects our shared commitment to both expand and deepen collaboration, with a sharper focus on areas that matter for the future – such as in emerging and frontier technologies, in sustainability, and in defence and security.

6.   President Macron and Prime Minister Wong also witnessed the conclusion of wide-ranging bilateral agreements, each opening new possibilities. They also witnessed the renewal of a roadmap for deeper collaboration in AI, online safety, and quantum technology.

7.   Our friendship delivers tangible benefits to our peoples – through economic cooperation and innovation, as well as the educational and cultural brew that we create together.

8.   Today, French firms make up the largest number of European companies registered in Singapore. Companies like CMA-CGM, TotalEnergies, and Alstom are leveraging on Singapore’s ecosystem to grow their footprint in the Asia-Pacific. Singapore’s investment firms GIC and Temasek are significant investors in France, and leading enterprises such as CapitaLand and ComfortDelgro are stepping up their presence.

9.   French expertise is helping to shape Singapore’s urban infrastructure. RATP Dev is working together with Singapore public transport operator SBS Transit to operationalise the upcoming Jurong Region MRT Line – the first foreign operator to be involved in Singapore’s rail industry.

10.   Your Excellency, your presence here in Singapore – and your upcoming address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, underscores the growing engagement between our regions. We share the fundamental belief in the importance of an open, stable, and rules-based global system.

11.   Bilateral defence cooperation has long been a cornerstone of our partnership. We remain the only non-NATO country to have the privilege of training our military on French soil. I would like to thank France for generously hosting the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s 150 Squadron for Advanced Jet Training at Cazaux Air Base, for over two and a half decades now.

12.   Singapore regularly receives French naval vessels for port calls, including the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and its battle group in March this year. Just recently, our two countries agreed to establish a joint research and development laboratory in Singapore, focused on developing AI capabilities for defence applications.     

13.   Our broader cooperation in R&D also continues to expand.  At the recent meeting of our France-Singapore Joint Committee on Science and Innovation in Paris, we embarked on joint research on infectious diseases and quantum technologies.

14.   We are deepening collaboration in space, through our respective space agencies, as well as the Singapore-France Eureka Joint Innovation Call, where we fund joint R&D projects between Singaporean and French start-ups.

15.   Sustainability is another key area.

    1.   We have just concluded two agreements that outline the scope of bilateral civil nuclear cooperation, including on research and capability building in nuclear safety. France has significant technical and regulatory expertise in these areas that we are keen to learn from as we study the potential deployment of civil nuclear energy in Singapore.

16.   Our cross-cultural currents, too, flow both ways. Last evening, President Macron and Mrs Macron visited “Two Rivers”, an exhibition at Anderson Bridge by Paris-based Singaporean photographer Melisa Teo – who used her photographs of the Singapore River and the Seine to explore how places shape our memories and lives.  

17.   Just last month, the French Embassy launched a special edition of the annual vOilah! France Singapore Festival. From a major National Gallery exhibition on how Paris inspired Asian artists, to open-air film screenings by the beach, vOilah! has brought the French and Singaporean communities together in a vibrant celebration of the creative synergy between our countries.

President Macron and Mrs Macron,

18.   There is a French proverb, “petit à petit, l’oiseau fait son nid” - “little by little, the bird makes its nest”. In some ways, this describes the Singapore-France relationship. Bit by bit, initiative upon initiative, in areas traditional and new, building trust, expanding our ties into making something substantive, unique, and mutually beneficial - something to be treasured in an increasingly troubled world.

Your Excellencies,  

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

19.   May I now invite you to join me in a toast:

      i.       To the good health and success of President Macron and Mrs Macron;

      ii.       To the continued peace and prosperity of Singapore and France; and

      iii.       To the enduring amity and cooperation between our countries.