As part of this bi-lateral agreement, Scottish Development International's first base in Singapore was also officially opened last month by Scotland's Deputy First Minister, Jim Wallace.

Last year Singapore was ranked the 'best business environment in Asia Pacific' by The Economist's Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) and is currently home to around 6,000 multi-national companies.

Mr Ko Kheng Hwa said: "I am excited to see the Scottish Development International base in Singapore join our growing community of international business accelerators. This diverse community supports our vision to become a Global Entrepolis - a vibrant global marketplace for enterprise, innovation and business creation.  To realise this vision, we need to connect extensively and build strong relationships with the world, of which our ties with Scotland are a good example. Scottish and Singaporean enterprises will be able to leverage on each other's strengths and each location's advantages through this partnership to generate new business ideas, develop new products and seek out new markets."

Martin Togneri, SE's Senior Director International Operations, said:  “Global connectivity is essential for growth. We share many similarities with Singapore, especially in the move by both countries to more knowledge-based economies. It is envisaged that the key sectors for joint working will be information communications, technology and digital media, electronics, photonics, biomedical sciences, food, energy and environment.

“Singapore is a compelling busines hub with strong technological capabilities and a vibrant venture capital community. We believe both economies can benefit from opportunities based around knowledge exchange and innovation, sharing best practices and the provision of reciprocal assistance to each other's companies and institutions.

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