Singapore Boosts Ties with Israel
Working with other countries can be quite beneficial, especially if both countries have mutual results that they want to accomplish. This level of support and camaraderie has been seen between Singapore and Israel over the last few months. Together, the countries decided that working with one another would give residents many more opportunities and help both areas to succeed.
Research between the two countries is set to become quite prevalent as the National Research Foundation and the Israel Hebrew University put a deal together in order to create a research center in Singapore. This will help to improve collaborations towards innovation, increase access to scholarships, offer more entrepreneurship opportunities, and improve postdoctoral and postgraduate training opportunities. The program will be named SHARE which stands for the Singapore-Hebrew University Alliance for Research and Enterprise.
Along with the added opportunities available to Singaporean residents and Hebrew nationals, both universities agreed to work together in a deeper sense to improve their research capabilities.
Prime Minister Lee was on a business trip in Israel and was the guest of honor at an event at the Hebrew University where he received an honorary doctorate. This was a gift in return for his leadership, civil reform ideas, and the economic growth that he has brought to his country. During his speech, Prime Minister Lee stated Israel has a variety of different influences on Singaporean culture. First, he touched on the ways Israel had helped to train the Singapore Armed Forces right after they became an independent nation in 1965. He stated that Singapore will always remain grateful for the time that they spent to help develop their army.
For years the two countries have had a relationship that stood far beyond defense and security, particularly in terms of improving technological research. Students have always been able to find different business opportunities between each country with ease. Since 1997, research and development foundation from Singapore and Israel has given 150 projects over $170 million in grants and funds.
Mr Lee also took the time to talk about how renowned the Hebrew University is and how they have produced 8 different winners of the Nobel Prize, and a variety of prime ministers and presidents that are leaders across various industries. He also mentioned how Albert Einstein saw such success in the university that he had visited Singapore to entice them to donate for further education, the country agreeing to provide $300,000 towards their learning.
The main purpose of this innovative center is to help promote a better environment for Israel and Singapore residents to where they have more opportunities to visit each country. With the ample amount of technological opportunities across a variety of industries, the two areas will be able to collaborate to achieve great things. At the end of the day, Israel’s history is something that has always inspired the country of Singapore and they are more than interested in improving relations and offering an ample amount of opportunities for residents of both countries to use to their advantage.
