President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his spouse leave Hanoi on February 24 afternoon for a State visit to Singapore (Photo: VNA)The Presidentis accompanied by Defence Minister General Phan Van Giang, Chairman of thePresidential Office Le Khanh Hai, Minister of Planning and Investment NguyenChi Dung, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, andMinister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, among others.
PresidentPhuc’s State visit takes place in the context that the bilateral ties aredeveloping significantly in all fields and it has great significance at a timewhen the two are preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic tiesin 2023.
It is the first foreign trip of President Phuc in 2022, and the first by a headof state to Singapore since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It aims ataffirming Vietnam's determination to boost economic development and create afavourable business environment, thus delivering an important message helpingSingaporean investors feel secure to do business in Vietnam.
In recentyears, the Vietnam-Singapore strategic partnership has developed strongly.Amidst complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides havemaintained contacts and meetings at different levels, and made good use ofbilateral cooperation mechanisms, especially the annual political consultationat the deputy foreign ministerial level.
Two-way tradehit 8.3 billion USD in 2021, and over 783 million USD in January 2022, up 23.3percent and 6.8 percent year-on-year, respectively.
As ofFebruary this year, Singapore has 2,860 valid projects worth 66 billion USD,ranking second among 140 nations and territories pouring capital into Vietnam.Notably, last year, Singapore took the lead among all foreign investors withregistered investment of over 10.7 billion USD, accounting for 34.4 percent oftotal capital attracted by Vietnam.
Singaporeaninvestors have participated in building infrastructure for 13 industrial parksin Vietnam, with a total area of about 7,517 hectares. Those industrial parksare operating with high occupancy rates (83.2 percent on average), attractingnearly 1,000 projects, in which more than 80 percent are foreign-investedprojects with a total registered capital of about 18.1 billion USD and nearly300,000 jobs have been created.
In the fightagainst COVID-19, Singapore was among the first ASEAN countries to providemedical equipment and supplies for Vietnam./.
VNA
