Singapore – Singapore’s Media Development Authority has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with the Philippines’ Office of the Press Secretary and France’s Canal France International (CFI) to strengthen media ties with each country. The agreements were inked at the sidelines of the Asia Media Festival (AMF) 2007, the region’s media content market hosted by MDA. Signed Nov. 27, Singapore’s agreement with the Philippines Office of the Press Secretary encourages collaborations between the two countries in media policy and information exchange, training and human resource development, co-production and mutual exchanges. Companies from both countries have indicated interest to collaborate in the areas of TV, film, games and animation. Already, Singapore’s Boomzap and Manila-based Flipside Games have launched a PC-based casual game Hoyle’s Enchanted Puzzles, published by US-based Encore, Inc., and slated for digital and retail distribution worldwide. Inked Nov. 29, the MDA-CFI MOU facilitates bilateral digital broadcasting training collaborations and co-production projects. Proposed events in 2008 include a digital broadcasting workshop and a co-production networking session. The former aims to provide technical and policy training to support the collective effort of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to adopt a common digital TV broadcasting standard, while the latter aims to bring together TV, film and animation producers from Singapore and France to discuss potential collaborations. Earlier this year, the two countries embarked on the first France-Singapore television co-production, Déjà Vu, between France’s Project Images Films and Singapore’s Mega Media and Six-Six-Eight (6-6-8). Delegations from the Philippines and France attended the AMF Country Showcase on Nov. 29 at the AMF at Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, a one-day networking platform hosted by MDA. The event targets to facilitate financing and co-production between Singapore and visiting country delegations. The new MOUs add to Singapore’s existing media co-operation MOUs with Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand. It also follows the launch of the ASEAN Media Portal (www.aseanmedia.net), an online platform that showcases and facilitates exchange of cultural information and media content among member states.