Singapore- Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo is making an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories with a business delegation joining him for part of the Israeli leg, the city-state's trade body said on Saturday. Yeo, visiting Israel from Saturday to Monday, is expected to call on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and meet with Vice Premier Shimon Peres and other leaders during his three-day stay.
He and his host Tzipi Livni, minister of foreign affairs, "will sign an agreement on cooperation in the fields of culture, education and science," trade agency IE Singapore said in a statement.
Yeo plans to visit the Palestinian National Authority's headquarters in Ramallah on May 1 to call on President Mahmoud Abbas and Deputy Prime Minister Azzam al-Ahmad. He also plans to meet with Foreign Minister Ziad Abu-Amr.
The business delegation's inaugural visit to Israel, from Monday to Thursday, includes 19 participants from 10 Singapore-based companies.
"Focusing on electronics and precision engineering, the programme will include visits to various research institutes and industry players as well as focused one-to-one business matching," the agenda said.
"Israel is a highly developed country, especially in terms of its IT and research and development," said Ted Tan, deputy chief executive officer of IE Singapore.
"We hope to see heightened interactions in the areas of medical technology, consumer electronics and enterprise electronics," Tan added.
Bilateral trade between Singapore and Israel amounts to 1.39 billion Singapore dollars (914 million US dollars).
