On October 17, 2017 at the venue of the Technopark Skolkovo within the framework of the Open Innovations forum the 8th session of the Russia-Singapore High-Level Intergovernmental Commission was held. On the Russian side the Commission is headed by the First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, while on Singapore side - Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam. During the session in a narrow and extended format the issues of the character and prospects for the development of relations between two countries in the economy, politics, social and cultural spheres were discussed. The top management of the Russia-Singapore Business Council - Nikolay Volobuev and Sergey Pronin - took part in the extended format of the Commission.

Among other things, during the session the parties particularly noted, that the next 2018 year is the year of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Russia (as the successor state to the Soviet Union) would continue the emerging positive trends in the economy. Days of Singapore will be held in Moscow, the Russian Culture Center will be established in Singapore. Great hopes are put on the agreement on a Free Trade Area between the Eurasian Economic Union and Singapore.

Among the high-priority issues and prospects for the socio-economic development of relations for the forthcoming year, a number of the initiatives actually related to the Business Council member-companies were emphasized. The Business Council joint initiatives with JSC Azimut; JSC Ruselectronics; JSC Russian Helicopters; JSC SIBER; JSC United Engine Corporation; JSC Tehnodinamika got approval. In particular, the Russian and Singaporean parties supported the initiative of the State Corporation Rostec together with the Singapore companies such as KeyAsic and United Crest Healthcare to create international cooperation in the field of the telemedicine and the development of the technologies iMedic (Singapore) and JEMYS (Russia).

The parties also supported the initiative to establish in Singapore a Center for Promotion of Russian high-tech products with the focus on the products and services of the State Corporation Rostec enterprises, as well as the development of the export-import B2B Platform RSTrade, operated by the executive structure of the Russia-Singapore Business Council. The platform is adopted as an instrument for promoting civil products of Rostec enterprises to the markets of South and Southeast Asia.

Igor Shuvalov drew attention to the need of the usage in Russia the experience of professional training of the Singapore Institute ITE - one of the best in the world. He welcomed the initiative of the State Corporation Rostec and the Moscow City Government to establish a similar center in the Russian capital. It was also decided to intensify bilateral cooperation between the universities of two countries. In this regard, the Russia-Singapore Business Council and the Economic Club of MGIMO University (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) initiated the launch of the Youth Russia-Singapore Business Council aimed to develop a dialogue between the young professionals of Russia and Singapore.