For a decade now, the Russia-Singapore Business Council has successfully promoted trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Singapore, the EAEU and the ASEAN. Interaction between the representatives of the expert communities, mutual experience and working exchange is one of the key elements of such cooperation. The RSBC experts prioritize exactly these spheres when organizing our work. Numerous educational programs and discussion events with the participation of experts from Russia and Singapore, which were carried out for the benefit of the audience from different countries, became one of the results of this work. Several delegations from Russia comprising heads of large enterprises, organizations and universities visited Singapore educational institutions for the purpose of experience exchange. These events were organized by the Russia-Singapore Business Council. At the invitation of the RSBC, Singapore experts visited not only Moscow and the Moscow Region, but also Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kazan and other cities of Russia.
The first serious events were organized already in 2015. At that time, several groups of Russian specialists got training at Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore in the areas of additive technologies and the treatment of oncological diseases. Moreover, crisis management and financial recovery courses held by Prof Christopher Goh took place at the premises of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. In the same year, the Council and Nanyang Technological University signed an agreement on cooperation that has been constantly expanding since then.
The largest Singapore specialists in the sphere of 3D modeling came to Russia on several occasions, conducted conferences and workshops for Russian specialists including for the National University of Science and Technology “MISiS”.
Singapore specialists received training at the leading neurosurgery center in Tyumen.
One of the most large-scale projects initiated by the Council was the creation of Center for Professional Training and Certification of Specialists in Innovative Industries in Moscow. The project was supported by the governments of our countries and is being implemented in the interests of the Government of Moscow and the State Corporation Rostec. ITEES, which is a division ITE Institute of Technical Education, one of the world’s leading industry-specific educational institutions, is the partner of the project. In 2018, the Russia-Singapore Youth Council was established in cooperation with the Economic Club of MGIMO University. It has already held a number of events in Russia and Singapore with the involvement of different innovative companies and foundations and also of specialists and students of Singapore Management University (SMU).
In cooperation with the leading Russian and Singapore institutions of higher and professional education, the Council organized an international professional development program for financial directors of large companies (in cooperation with the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore (IBF)), numerous courses in the sphere of management and financial management with the participation of major international consultants and corporate mentors, a program for exploring 3D printing technologies (in cooperation with the Singapore 3D Printing Center created under Nanyang Technological University). The RSBC also conducted programs at the request and in the interests of the State Corporation Rostec, the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, Gazprom PJSC, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the Government of Moscow etc.
Only in 2019, the RSBC organized a number of such events both in Russia and in Singapore. In the spring of 2019, the RSBC experts conducted two training seminars at the Moscow Export School; during the seminars the topic of the specificity and opportunities for business in ASEAN countries was covered as well as tools for supporting Russian entrepreneurs in SEA region with a focus on Singapore.
At the same time in March, a two-day program dedicated to the management of modern business processes in the electronic industry was organized for the heads of the Rostec radioelectronics complex, which was a part of the business mission of Russian companies to Singapore dedicated to the IV Russian-Singapore business dialogue. The training took place at the Center for Overseas Promotion of Russian High-Tech Companies and Presentation of Investment Projects in Singapore, created by the RSBC.
In June, two more seminars devoted to the exchange of experience in the sphere of procurement were conducted there. Fabian Wong, an international expert and a recognized specialist in the field of procurement management with more than 20 years of experience, spoke to the employees of Rostec, and Tatiana Gololobova, the Procurement Director of Rostec, shared her experience with the representatives of the Singapore business circles.
In September, the RSBC in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Center for Management Education organized a seminar entitled “The Current State of the Banking System and the Insurance Sector in Russia: Key Problems and Modern Challenges” conducted for middle and senior managers of two large Indian banks and representatives of the insurance business.
Finally, in October, with support of the RSBC, students and teachers of Temasek Polytechnic, one of the leading technical educational institutions in Singapore, visited Moscow. Temasek delegates visited the Moscow Polytechnic University and the offices of large Russian IT-companies, including Vision Labs. The key event was the meeting of delegates with representatives of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). As one of the recognized leaders among technical universities of the world, MIPT, also known as “PhysTech”, conducts unique researches and offers a variety of educational programs in the spheres of fundamental and applied physics, information technology, cybersecurity, quantum technologies etc. The university is open to active international cooperation and its development, which was also mentioned by the representatives of Temasek and the RSBC as one of their main goals. Shortly after their visit to Moscow, the representatives of Temasek received the Russian delegation headed by Vladimir Dozhdev, the Director of the Digital Technologies Department of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. The “return” visit was paid within the scope of a business program devoted to the exhibition of digital industrial transformation “Industrial Transformation Asia Pacific 2019” which took place in Singapore.
The delegates also visited R&D centers of leading universities in Singapore – the Institute for Air Traffic Management of Nanyang Technological University, as well as the Center for Quantum Technologies and the Center for Innovative 2D Materials of the National University of Singapore. After that, the delegates met Konstantin Novoselov, a graduate of the MIPT University, who, together with Neil Game, received the Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering experiments concerning two-dimensional graphene material.
The RSBC experts are determined to further develop cooperation between expert communities of Russia and Asia-Pacific countries. Several new projects are to be implemented in the first half of the year 2020. The development of international cooperation in the sphere of science and education forms a reliable basis for strong interaction and promotes the strengthening of business relations and partnership between the countries.
