SM Tharman Shanmugaratnam's visit to Paris, France, from 11 to 12 November 2019

Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam attended the Paris Peace Forum (PPF) from 11 to 12 November. An initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, the PPF¹ aims to encourage multilateralism and collective action, and was focused this year on themes such as development, the environment, new technologies, and education.

At the Forum, Senior Minister (SM) Tharman spoke at the panel on “The Future of Trade Rules” moderated by PPF President, Pascal Lamy. The other panellists were the French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire, Executive Director and Chair of the International Trade Centre Arancha González, Editor-in-Chief at Caixin Media Hu Shuli, and Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization Alan Wolff.

SM Tharman highlighted that “there is still strong support for free trade - both in the developing world and the advanced world. The challenge is in ensuring more active domestic policies help those who lose out in market competition, global or domestic.” He also discussed the importance of plurilateral negotiations and agreements, bringing together a ‘coalition of the willing’, as a practical way to move beyond the impasse at the WTO. This was being taken forward in e-commerce and AI governance with Singapore and France both playing active roles. SM Tharman pointed out that trade agreements had to increasingly consider environmental concerns, but trade remained a powerful vehicle to promote productivity growth in the developing world, which was itself critical in moving towards more environmentally-friendly practices.

Singapore had a booth at the Forum, on “Singapore’s Approach to Human-Centric Artificial Intelligence”, which SM Tharman visited together with Latvian President Egils Levits and his Advisor on Smart Technologies Rolands Lappuke. It showcased Singapore’s initiatives to encourage innovation in and adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), whilst addressing the ethical, regulatory and governance challenges arising from the use of AI.

While in Paris, SM Tharman also met Minister Bruno Le Maire and Minister for National Education and Youth Jean-Michel Blanquer. SM Tharman and Minister Le Maire discussed issues pertaining to international corporate tax reforms, and reaffirmed the interest for both countries to collaborate on AI governance and cybersecurity. SM Tharman and Minister Blanquer discussed opportunities for further collaboration in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), including in third countries, and the lessons learnt from ongoing education initiatives in Singapore and France.

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PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE

SINGAPORE
13 NOVEMBER 2019

[1] The PPF is a high-level forum first held in 2018 to mark the 1918 armistice that brought an end to the First World War. Apart from panel discussions with leaders from various fields, the Forum showcased projects from around the world with innovative ideas to address common challenges.