MFA Press Statement: Visit by Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zainul Abidin Rasheed to France, 2 - 7 December 2007

Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Foreign Affairs Zainul Abidin Rasheed will be visiting France from 2 to 7 December 2007. He will be accompanied by officials from the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs as well as the President of MUIS, Mr Alami Musa, and academics.

In Paris, SMS Zainul will attend a conference on the "Impact of the Middle East on Southeast Asia and Europe". The conference, jointly organised by the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Quai d'Orsay) and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), will be attended by officials, academics and experts. The conference will, among other things, examine how the situation in the Middle East impacts on Southeast Asia and Europe.

SMS Zainul will also call on Mr Brice Hortefeux, Minister for Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-development and meet with other senior French officials in the Ministry of the Interior and the President of the High Council for Integration. SMS Zainul will also visit the Grand Mosque of Paris and L'Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute). He is also scheduled to call on His Highness the Aga Khan in Aiglemont, a city near Paris. SMS Zainul will also deliver a speech at a seminar for faculty and staff at the Menton campus of Sciences Po in the south of France on 7 December.