Hollande in final foreign tour of his term
SINGAPORE: French President Francois Hollande arrived Sunday in Singapore, the first leg in the final foreign tour of his five-year term, and will go on to Malaysia and Indonesia.
The tour ending Wednesday in Jakarta is dominated by economic and defense issues, and is aimed mainly at strengthening ties with a region with high economic potential, according to the presidential palace.
Hollande has made some 230 international trips since 2012 but has only one other major commitment abroad before his term ends in mid-May: The post- Brexit European summit in Brussels on April 29.
About 40 business leaders, mostly from small-and medium-sized enterprises, as well as Secretary of State for Industry Christophe Sirugue and Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian are accompanying him in Southeast Asia.
Hollande met French business leaders at the Asia-Pacific campus in Singapore of France’s ESSEC business school. He also met his Singapore counterpart Tony Tan Keng Yam.
On Monday, he will open a forum grouping 170 French start-ups with a presence in Singapore and make a speech on the regional and international situation to the prestigious Singapore Conference.
On Tuesday, he travels to Malaysia, which has a continuing relationship with France in defense matters.
Hollande’s tour ends Wednesday in Indonesia, where he will make the first visit by a French head of state since Francois Mitterrand in 1986.