Over the weekend, French President Francois Hollande kicked off a Southeast Asian tour that will see him visit Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia in quick succession.
Hollande’s ASEAN tour began Sunday with the first leg in Singapore. Singapore and France already enjoy a broad-based relationship that covers a range of fields including trade, defense, and education and research. France has provided the city-state’s air force with space to train at Cazaux Air Base for nearly two decades, and as of last year was Singapore’s second-largest trading partner within the European Union. The two sides had further elevated their ties to a strategic partnership back in 2012.