Some might raise the question as to why the Singaporean president would visit Luxembourg’s rescue centre. The answer lies in the shared structural approaches to emergency services.
“Both the CGDIS and the Singapore Civil Defence Force operate across emergency medical response, firefighting, and civil protection”, explains Paul Schroeder, Director of the CGDIS. As smaller nations who are often dependent on the help of neighbouring countries in the event of major catastrophes, they must be prepared to act independently in the initial stages.
A major focus during the visit was Singapore’s position as a pioneer in artificial intelligence and advanced technologies. Already in 2023, the CGDIS had sent four employees to Singapore for training in search and rescue technology. “We learned how to locate and extract trapped people”, said CGDIS officer Max Delvaux, who participated in the exchange.
However, Luxembourg’s own innovations were of interest to the Singaporean delegation, in particular its first electric ambulance. At the same time, the delegation was keen to learn more about Luxembourg’s protocols for handling suspicious packages.
The exchange was concluded with a formal memorandum of understanding: “The agreement revolves around mutual research support, especially around the use of AI in civil protection”, explained Minister of Internal Affairs Léon Gloden. It includes the collaboration on robotic applications in firefighting.
The memorandum serves as a means for both countries to benefit from each other’s innovation and experience – despite the 10,000km distance between them.
