State President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hosted separate receptions for Speaker of the Singapore Parliament Halima Yacob in Hanoi on April 2.

The two leaders sent their deep condolences to Singapore over the death of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew – a friend of Vietnam, who shared valuable experience in managing the country.

State President Truong Tan Sang expressed his pleasure at the growing ties between Vietnam and Singapore, spotlighted by elevating their relations to a strategic partnership.

He said Vietnam treasures its cooperation with Singapore, which is playing an important role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

He suggested the two sides increase high-level delegation exchanges, especially among parliamentarians.

The Singaporean top legislator highlighted the sound political and economic relations between the two countries in anticipation of the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) this year.

She underlined the 500-million strong ASEAN market will be a strong base for cooperation between countries in the region.

She noted that Singapore is currently the third biggest investor in Vietnam, with a total investment of around 32 billion USD across five industrial parks in Vietnam.

Singaporean private businesses are looking forward to opening two additional industrial parks in the Southeast Asian nation, she said.

She added that the Singapore People Association has established cooperative ties with the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee, creating a foundation for the expansion of people-to-people exchanges.

She congratulated Vietnam on successfully hosting the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, which helped increase Vietnam’s position in the global arena.

While meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the Singaporean lawmaker suggested the two countries promote the implementation of signed cooperation agreements and build new collaboration programmes.

She said the Singaporean parliament supports cooperative activities between the two countries’ governments for their mutual development.

She pledged to make more contributions to propelling the bilateral relations forwards, especially in economics, trade, investment, education and training, and the construction of industrial parks in Vietnam.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung proposed Vietnam and Singapore give priority to their economic partnership given their ample cooperation opportunities in the field.

He asked Singapore to accelerate the construction of the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) 6 in central Nghe An province and the VSIP 7 in northern Hai Duong province.

The PM described the VSIP project as a vivid symbol of the successful economic cooperation between the two countries.

He also suggested Singapore grant additional scholarships to Vietnamese students.

Singapore has provided training for 14,000 Vietnamese officials. Trade between the two countries neared 10 billion USD.-VNA