17 French companies exhibited in the French Pavilion at APM 2016
Business France Singapore, the French Trade Commission, organised the French Pavilion of the 14th edition of the Asia Pacific Maritime Exhibition (APM 2016) held at the Marina Bay Sands convention center from March 16th to 18th 2016. Seventeen French companies exhibited and benefited from an active networking and BtoB meetings hosted at the French Pavilion.
The pavilion was powered by Creative France, an international campaign run by Business France, showcasing French expertise in creativity and innovation in a number of fields, including technology, industry, fashion, cuisine, science, and the arts.
APM is a key event of the maritime industry in Asia-Pacific, with 15,000 visitors and 1,500 exhibitors in 2016. The maritime industry is highly strategic in Asia Pacific, especially in Singapore, representing 7% of its GDP and creating over 170,000 jobs. The city-state has become a worldwide leader in this field and is the second largest port in terms of container traffic (33.9 million TEUs).
Business France welcomed the exhibitors at the Embassy for an introduction seminar presenting Trends in the maritime industry in Southeast Asia. This workshop has gathered different speakers, such as Frédéric ROSSI (French Trade Commissioner and Business France’s SVP for ASEAN & Pacific) introducing ASEAN business context, CDR François CECCALDI (Deputy Defence Attache and French Liaison Officer at the IFC) presenting the Information Fusion Center and maritime security trends, Captain Sundeep KHERA (Head of Marine – AXA) and Mr. Pierre CHEVALIER (Regional Marine hull coach – AXA Marine) presenting shipping in ASEAN. This was also an opportunity for Jean-François PENVERNE, VP of FMCCS to introduce the French Maritime Cluster Committee in Singapore (FMCCS).
His Excellency Benjamin DUBERTRET, Ambassador of France to Singapore, met with the French exhibitors on Thursday. Later on that day, Ambassador DUBERTRET hosted a cocktail reception at the French Residence, co-sponsored by the French Maritime Cluster (CMF) and the French Marine Industry Group (GICAN) gathering the Singapore maritime and port ecosystem. This event was marked by the launch in Singapore of the SeaOrbiter project, a technological, scientific and educational program aiming to develop a concept of "International Ocean Station” designed by the famous naval architect, Jacques ROUGERIE.