Yesterday the Ambassador Mario Andrea Vattani presented his credentials to the President of the Republic of Singapore Halimah Yacob.
(ADNKRONOS.COM) “Today I had the honor of presenting my credentials to the President of the Republic of Singapore, Halimah Yacob. It was a memorable experience, which I would like to dedicate to my uncle Alessandro Vattani, Ambassador to Singapore in the first half of the 1980s. From him and my aunt Francesca I heard for the first time, as a boy, about the success of the City-State under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew, the historical leader that my uncle Alessandro brought for the first time on a visit to Italy, in Rome, Florence, Venice “. Thus the Italian ambassador in Singapore Mario Vattani.
“After the credentials ceremony – continues Vattani – I was able to chat with President Halimah Yacob on the excellent state of our bilateral relations, on Singapore’s significant participation in the various meetings of the Italian G20 Presidency, and finally at the Rome Summit with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. I shared with her some ideas on the role that Italian companies present in Singapore could have in the development of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, insisting on the opportunities that could open up in Singapore for our start-ups in the technological and digital innovation sectors. , underlining the presence of numerous Italian researchers in the Singaporean university complex. I explained to the President the role that Italy has played in the elaboration together with the other European partners of the new EU strategy for the Indo-Pacific, underlining how – starting from the Asem Summit in Milan in 2014 – our country has paid increasing attention ion to Asia and in particular to Asean, of which Italy became a development partner in 2020. I also wanted to indicate to the President some of my priorities for this period in Singapore, not least that of making the presence and potential more visible of the Italian system in Singapore, through integrated promotion initiatives, and then reopening the Italian Cultural Institute as soon as possible “.
“I found in the President Halimah Yacob a cordial interlocutor, attentive and interested in Italy and our projects, with a deep knowledge of social and labor issues, who knows the important role that the Italian industries that are there have played in Singapore they were already established in the first years of its independence “, concludes the Italian Ambassador. President of the Republic of Singapore since 2017, Halimah Yacob received her Masters in Law from the National University of Singapore and later served as a member of the National Congress of Trade Unions for over 30 years. You have held various positions there, from Deputy Secretary-General to Director of the Departments for Women’s Development, to Executive Secretary of Workers in the Electronics and Electrical Industries. You have represented Singapore at the International Labor Organization (ILO) for 12 years. She was first elected to parliament in 2001, and in 2011 she was appointed Minister of State for Community Development and Sport. You have initiated various senior support programs and services for the disabled, developing Singapore’s modern Social Services system. As her last post before the Presidency of the Republic, Halimah Yacob was elected President of Parliament in 2013, the first woman to hold this office.
