DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the German Centre 20th Anniversary Celebration

Your Excellency Nils Schmid, Deputy Minister-President and Minister of Finance and Economics of the state of Baden-Württemberg,

Your Excellency, Dr Michael Witter, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Singapore,

Mr Michael Horn, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good evening.

Introduction

It is a real pleasure for me to join you this evening for the 20^th Anniversary celebrations of the German Centre Singapore. Let me first extend a warm welcome to Deputy Minister-President Nils Schmid and his distinguished delegation from Baden-Württemberg to Singapore. Your visit to Singapore for the German Centre’s anniversary celebrations highlights both the Centre’s important role as a business incubator and the role it plays in deepening our bilateral relationship.

Singapore and Germany celebrate 50 years of excellent diplomatic relations this year. Our relationship is a longstanding and multifaceted one: across defence, science and technology, education and other areas, we have strong partnerships and regular interactions at all levels. Economic cooperation between the two countries is solid. The number of German companies in Singapore has tripled in the last decade to more than 1,400 today.

Baden-Württemberg’s Mittelstand companies

Many of these companies are from Baden-Württemberg, which is well-known as the technological hub of Europe. Earlier this month, Mercedes-Benz made road history when its autonomous heavy-duty semi-truck drove driver-less on the Autobahn in Stuttgart. We are keen to explore this technology as autonomous vehicle technology can in time transform Singapore’s transport system.

 Singapore is proud to host many of Baden-Württemberg’s companies. They are in a wide range of sectors such as automotive, precision engineering, medical and environmental technology. Companies such as Bosch have been in Singapore since 1923! We have also enjoyed the long-standing presence of many of Baden-Württemberg’s Mittelständ companies. They are no longer the “hidden” champions. The Mittelständ companies have lived up to their reputation for thinking beyond the current generation, investing relentlessly in R&D, and gaining leadership in various specialized niches in world markets.

Our Singapore companies have had successful collaborations with them. For instance, over the last 16 years, the partnership between Odenwald Chemie GmBH and Armstrong Industrial Corporation, a local company, has enabled them to successfully enter the automotive market of six cities in China. Armstrong Odenwald has grown rapidly and since 2013, is a development partner for BMW China.

To give a second example, the University Hospital in Tuebingen is currently conducting clinical trials of the Genesis imaging system developed by local firm HistoIndex. The system performs automatic and quantitative assessment of prostate cancer tissue to aid in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of patients.

Developing skills for the future

Like many of Baden-Württemberg’s companies, we take a long-term view and invest in building capabilities for the future. A key focus for Singapore’s next phase as a nation is to develop in our people deep skills and future capabilities. It will help us develop robust and self-sustaining innovation systems to meet the challenges of changing global demands and new competition.

German companies in Singapore play an important role in the development of technological skills among our young. The Dual Studies Programme, starting with Poly-goes-UAS (University of Applied Science), was launched in April 2014. Under this scholarship, our students from the Polytechnics are offered an attractive education and career pathway, while the German companies have access to practice-oriented talent in Singapore. Earlier today, two German Mittelstand companies signed the MoU for the Poly-goes-UAS programme, joining the ranks of four other companies.

Due to the success of the inaugural Dual Studies programme in Singapore, the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) has also established an equivalent of the scholarship, the Dual Studies Industry Sponsorship Pioneer Programme. Nine German companies signed the MoU earlier today for the inaugural SIT version of the Dual Studies Programme.

In line with the SkillsFuture movement, these Dual Studies Programmes will empower students to integrate knowledge and skills gained in SIT or UAS with real-world practice by working in the sponsoring German companies. Both these Dual Studies Programmes have attracted over 220 applicants and 25 students have been awarded bachelor degree scholarships so far. We are grateful for the German companies’ strong support and interest in developing our local talent and providing multiple pathways to success.

We believe our strong partnership with German companies will see lasting win-win benefits. A workforce with deep skills will increase Singapore’s attractiveness as a base for companies to expand their operations and tap on the opportunities that the region has to offer. It also promises good careers for Singaporeans.

Singapore as the gateway to opportunities in ASEAN

Singapore is well positioned as Germany’s natural partner to venture into the rapidly growing markets in the region. Regional economic integration efforts such as the ASEAN Economic Community, the ongoing Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the recently concluded Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations will further enhance the region’s competitiveness.

The German Centre provides invaluable support for German companies to enter these markets. Over the last twenty years, some 500 companies have leased space and utilised the Centre’s services.

We expect economic relations between Singapore and Germany and the EU to be further boosted when the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) comes into force. We hope the EUSFTA will be ratified as soon as possible. It will also send a timely signal of the EU’s intent to engage the fast-growing region and serve as a building block towards an eventual EU-ASEAN FTA. Small and medium-sized companies especially, from both our regions, will benefit from this important platform for economic cooperation.

In conclusion, Germany can look towards Singapore as a like-minded and trusted partner in Asia. I hope that with the EUSFTA, more German companies will expand their operations in the region through Singapore, leveraging on the strong support provided by the German Centre.

My heartiest congratulations once again, to the German Centre on its 20th Anniversary in Singapore.

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