Transcript of Remarks by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Overseas Singaporean reception in Paris, France on 24 July 2024 at the Singapore Residence
25 July 2024
Thank you, Ambassador Foo, for that wonderful speech which does me a favour because I don't need to say too much. And thank you, Sharon, for that delightful introduction. I’m very happy to be here with my wife, among Singaporeans in France.
I suspect the Singaporeans in Paris and in France are more diverse than most other Singaporean communities around the world. Apart from those at our Air Base at Cazaux, some of you are in tech enterprises, some in design, some in the arts, some even in winemaking, and some are students. A wide range of pursuits, more than in a typical world city. So that's the first thing worth celebrating: Singaporeans doing many very different things, and hopefully telling a bit of your own stories, with a Singapore element in them. And imbibing something from France that you're able to bring back to Singapore.
One of the first things that struck me about the Olympics hosted in Paris, is that there’s some French genius in the way they've gone about it. It's not just having the opening ceremony by the River Seine, but they haven't built many huge new structures for it. They made this an Olympics of repair and reuse. They first hosted the Olympics in 1900 and again in 1924, then they hosted the World Cup much later, in 1988. And they've actually reused the many of the original infrastructures.
One of the stadiums from the 1924 Olympics (the Yves-du-Manoir stadium) has had a new grandstand for 1000 people built in. At the Georges Vallerey swimming pool, they’ve built a slim, timber retractable roof. Things like that - using the original infrastructure, improving it, renovating it and taking pride in the fact that they are keeping the Games lean and sustainable, so they don't have white elephants after the Olympics.
And the choice of Saint-Denis as the Games Village was itself inspired. One of the problems of Paris has been the banlieues that are dislocated from the rest of the city, not all in great condition. But they’ve brought life to Saint-Denis, and built a huge new footpath leading to the neighbourhood. So they are connecting that dislocated neighbourhood to the city, and intend to breathe life into it.
As the French put it, they are accelerating everything that they would have wanted to do about the city - greening it, something like 300,000 new trees in public places, adding 250 miles of new bicycle paths, cleaning up the River Seine. Some things that would have taken years. They’ve used the Olympics as the reason to speed it up. So that's something to appreciate. Something to keep in minds- how they've gone about hosting the Olympics, the largest international sports event in the world, in a very different way.
Ambassador Foo has spoken about our bilateral relationship. It is strengthening. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's recent visit - when he was DPM - took it to a new level. He agreed with President Macron to embark on making this a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. And to make this next year a joint year of sustainability - so we are not just doing things bilaterally in AI and many other areas, we also want to contribute to the world by working on sustainability together.
So the relationship is going well. But it was always also a people and culture relationship, which in fact started from our earliest days as a British colony. The French were there as naturalists, architects, and other vocations - the French imprint was there from the outset. French priests and nuns set up St Joseph’s Institution, Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. In the arts, several in the early years studied at Ecole des Beaux-Arts before returning to a new modern wave in Singapore. And of course, Georgette Chen spent some time in Paris.
But there has been the reverse flow as well. Andrew Gn is really something. He grew up in Hougang, made his way to Paris, created his own brand, and from 1996 all the way till he retired in 2023, was exhibited at the Paris Fashion Week every year. And there have been many others - some are here today.
Comprehensive strategic partnership is about government-to-government relations; it's about technology, defence, education, sustainability and many other areas. But we breathe life into it through people like yourselves, bringing your colour and bringing your own stories into the relationship. Just as the French are bringing their stories into Singapore. It’s a great relationship.
The Team SG Olympians whom I met this afternoon were in great spirits. Their heats are going to start soon, so I had expected them to be anxious about how well they will fare. But they were very calm – they had done their morning training, were relaxed and having a hearty meal. They will each succeed in their own ways. Maybe someone will win a medal, which is, of course, an outstanding feat at the Olympics. Someone might reach the semi-finals, which is itself a pinnacle for most people. But even those who just take part in the heats, and best their previous personal best, would have achieved something. To have made it to the Olympics and done your best, is an achievement that we are all proud of.
Those 23 athletes represent success in their own ways, but they also inspire us. They’ve all sacrificed something, but they've put so much effort into something that they enjoy, they are proud of. And they feel they can do something exceptional. They are departing from the norm, but perhaps what they are doing will become more and more the norm in the future. That should be our hope.
Once again, thank you very much, Ambassador. Thank you to all of you and my wife and I look forward to chatting with you more.