Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan meet with the press. (Photo: VNA)The firstofficial visit to Singapore by Son took place in the context that the twocountries are celebrating the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10thanniversary of their Strategic partnership.
At theirtalks on July 18 morning, Vivian affirmed that Singapore considers Vietnam animportant partner in the region and wishes to further strengthen the Strategic partnershipwith Vietnam for the benefit of the two nations’ people and for regional peace,stability and prosperity.
Sonexpressed his pleasure to visit Singapore for the first time in his capacity as Minister ofForeign Affairs and appreciated Vivian’s attendance at a ceremony on July 17evening to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Singaporediplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the Strategicpartnership.
The twoministers expressed their satisfaction at the development of the bilateral relations,reflected in the frequency of high-level visits and bilateral cooperationmechanisms. Economic cooperation, trade and investment are constantly beingpromoted.
Singaporeleads ASEAN and ranks second in the world in terms of investment capital in Vietnamwith 3,273 projects and total investment of over 73.45 billion USD, accountingfor about 23% of total registered FDI capital.
Vietnam-Singaporeindustrial parks have continued to operate effectively and have been constantlyexpanded and upgraded, becoming a symbol of success in investment cooperationbetween the two countries.
Cooperationin other important fields such as national defence, security, education,culture and people-to-people exchanges has been treasured, contributing toenhancing mutual understanding between the two countries’ people.
The twoministers agreed to coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors toeffectively concretise the commitments made during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’svisit to Singapore in February 2023.
The twosides vowed to focus on preparing well for the upcoming high-level visits,especially Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s official visit to Vietnam.
They pledgedto strengthen the effective implementation of signed cooperation agreements,including the Memorandum of Understanding on establishing the Vietnam-SingaporeDigital Economy-Green Economy Partnership.
The twosides also agreed to work together to promote negotiations and sign importantcooperation documents, including a document to upgrade the Singapore-Vietnam Connectivity FrameworkAgreement.
Discussingregional and international issues of mutual concern, the two ministers agreedthat in the context of complicated and unpredictable global and regionaldevelopments, the two countries need to continue to strengthen cooperation,maintain solidarity and promote the central role of ASEAN, especially instrategic issues such as peace and stability in the East Sea and the region.
FM Bui Thanh Son (left) and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan. (Photo: VNA)The same day,Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son had a meeting with Singaporean SeniorMinister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean duringwhich they agreed to continuously contribute to promoting the bilateralcooperative relationship between Vietnam and Singapore, including fosteringcooperation and promoting the signing of documents in security and defence.
They vowedto jointly maintain peace, stability and cooperation in the region, strengthensolidarity and unity, contribute to building a resilient and prosperous ASEANand promote its central role, especially in strategic regional issues of theregion.
During hisvisit to Singapore, Son and his delegation together with officials of the VietnameseEmbassy and Vietnamese representative agencies visited and offered flowers toPresident Ho Chi Minh's monument at the Asian Civilisations Museum./.
VNA
