Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (right) and Singaporean President Halimah Yacob. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong has affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to its strategic partnership with Singapore and suggested that the two countries effectively promote the great potential of cooperation by increasing the exchange of visits and meetings at all levels and through all party, government, parliament, and people channels.
He made the statement at a reception in Hanoi on October 17 for Singaporean President Halimah Yacob, who is on a five-day state visit to Vietnam.
The Vietnamese leader called for enhancing the efficiency of trade and investment cooperation and create conditions for economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.
He assigned relevant Vietnamese agencies to work closely with their Singaporean counterparts to realise agreements reached during the Singaporean President's visit, for the benefit of the people of the two countries.
Welcoming the Singaporean President's visit, General Secretary Trong said that it was vivid manifestation of the good friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore, marking a new milestone to deepen the relationship between the two countries as they will celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership in 2023.
On this occasion, the Party leader asked the Singaporean President to convey his regards to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and other Singaporean leaders, wishing the people and Singapore more prosperous and happy.
For her part, President Jacob highly appreciated Vietnam's achievements, giving it a drastic change as compared to 30 years ago when she visited the country.
The Singaporean President congratulated Vietnam on its successes in socio-economic development, overcoming difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and maintaining high economic growth. She attributed the achievements to the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam headed by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
President Jacob informed the host about the results of her talks with President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, during which the two nations signed Memoranda of Understanding on cooperation in many fields. She emphasised that the strategic partnership between the two countries is developing strongly and extensively.
The President affirmed that Singapore always attaches great importance to developing relations with Vietnam, promoting the achievements as well as expanding cooperation in the new period in such fields as renewable energy, cyber security, trade and investment, and human resource development, including a training programme for senior officials of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Singapore.
She hoped that the two sides would work closely to effectively implement cooperation agreements, thus developing the bilateral relations more practically and effectively, bringing benefits to their people, and making it a model of cooperation among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)./.
