Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, his spouse, and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation arrive in Changi Airport on February 8 afternoon. (Photo: VNA)Welcoming the Vietnamese delegation at theairport included Singaporean Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng, SingaporeanAmbassador to Vietnam Jaya Ratnam, Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Mai PhuocDung, officials from the Vietnamese Embassy and a number of overseas Vietnamesein the country.
The visit is taking place at a time when the Vietnam-Singapore strategic partnership isdeveloping strongly and dynamically across all fields. This year, the two countries are celebrating the 50th founding anniversary of diplomaticrelations and 10 years of their strategic partnership.
The two nations have regularly andeffectively maintained high and all-level delegation exchanges and meetings,along with expanding defence and security cooperation. Collaboration in other areassuch as education, culture, and tourism has also been bolstered through specificagreements and memoranda of understanding.
Singapore is now Vietnam’s top importanteconomic partner in the region, with two-way trade nearing 9 billion USD lastyear, up 10.1% year-on year. The island state leads ASEAN and ranks second among 141 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 3,032 validprojects worth 70.39 billion USD.
At present, 12 Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) in nine Vietnamese cities andprovinces have an occupancy rate of around 83.2%, attracting 17.6 billion USDfor some 900 projects and generating roughly 300,000 jobs.
Vietnam and Singapore have worked closely together on regional andinternational matters of shared concern, including the East Sea issue, whilestrengthening cooperation at multilateral organisations and forums such as the United Nations (UN), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Together they have also worked withinbilateral and multilateral free trade agreements in which both sides arejoining, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP).
In recent high-level visits, leaders of thetwo nations agreed on a number of major cooperation directions, especially in newareas such as the digital economy, digital transformation, regional and globalsupply chain connections, the building of the green economy, sustainable development, andcooperation in the production chain.
PM Chinh’s visit to Singapore aims to lift Vietnam-Singapore economicconnectivity to a new height in the context that a series of new-generationfree trade deals joined by the two nations have taken effect, including the CPTPPand RCEP.
As scheduled, during his stay, PM Chinh will hold talks with his Singaporeancounterpart Lee Hsien Loong, and have meetings with Singaporean President HalimahYacob, and Speaker of the Singaporean Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin.
He will also meet with representatives of the Vietnamese community in Singapore, and leadingbusinesses of Singapore, and attend a Vietnam-Singapore Business Forum topromote bilateral trade and investment cooperation./.
VNA
