Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai paid an official visit to Singapore from July 29-August 1 at the invitation of the Singaporean Government.

While in Singapore , Deputy PM Hai paid a courtesy visit to President S. R. Nathan and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

He had working sessions with Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, Foreign Minister George Yeo, and Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang.

The Deputy PM also attended and addressed a meeting of the International Advisory Panel of the Asia Competitiveness Institute, had a roundtable meeting with leading Singaporean groups and visited some economic and scientific establishments.

At the meetings, the two sides informed each other about socio-economic development in each country and discussed measures to boost bilateral cooperation in the future.

They were pleased at the fine development of political relations with the exchange of high-level delegations recently, including the visit to Singapore by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in August 2007, as well as the visits to Vietnam by President S. R. Nathan in February 2008 and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in April 2009.

The two sides agreed to continue to prepare for up-coming high-level visits between the two countries in 2009.

Singapore highly appreciated the development potential of Vietnam and affirmed their wish to further bolster long-lasting, comprehensive and sustainable cooperation between the two countries.

Concerning economic cooperation, the two sides expressed pleasure at the rapid growth rate of trade turnover and investment in recent time. Singapore has always been one of Vietnam ’s leading trade partners and investors.

They greatly valued the effective operation of Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks 1 and 2 in Vietnam ’s Binh Duong province, praising the expansion of this model to the northern province of Bac Ninh and Hai Phong city.

Singaporean businesses expressed their wish to continue expanding cooperation and investment in Vietnam .

The two sides lauded the results of the fourth ministerial meeting on linking the two economies held in Singapore on July 17 and agreed to accelerate the implementation of the Framework Agreement on Vietnam-Singapore Connectivity in finance-banking, education and training, investment, post and telecom, trade and services, and transport.

They also agreed to continue boosting cooperation in national security and defence, the judiciary, science and technology, oil and gas, urban planning and investment, and healthcare.

In terms of multilateral cooperation, the two sides deeply appreciated close cooperation at regional and international forums, and agreed to maintain it in forums including ASEAN, APEC, ASEM and the UN.

The Singaporean side expressed their belief that Vietnam would handle its duties well as ASEAN president in 2010./.