Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of French space agency CNES, and Lam Khin Yong, Vice President of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), have signed a cooperation agreement covering the exchange of PhD students between the two bodies.

Institutional ties between France and Singapore in space go back to 2013, when CNES began working with NTU on the radiation effects induced by lasers in electronic components. To put this initial bilateral relationship on a formal footing, CNES and Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) signed a first cooperation agreement in May 2015. Le Gall met with EDB Chairman Dr. Beh Swan Gin at the recent Singapore Airshow.

The new agreement clears the way for an initial exchange of two PhD students in the summer of 2016, and this activity is set to expand in coming years.

Le Gall declared that the agreement was a vital element in France’s support for Singapore’s ambitions to become one of Southeast Asia’s leading space powers.