Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong left the plane when arriving in Vietnam (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The official visitto Vietnam by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is expected to deepen and broadenthe Strategic Partnership between Singapore and Vietnam and bring bilateral relationsto even greater heights, Singaporean Ambassador to Vietnam Catherine Wong hassaid.
In an interview granted to the Vietnam NewsAgency (VNA), Ambassador Catherine Wong said Singapore andVietnam share longstanding and multi-faceted ties, with substantive cooperationin many areas. The anchor for thisstrong relationship is close personal ties that Singaporean and Vietnameseleaders share, which are maintained through regular exchanges of high-levelvisits as well as frequent meetings at multilateral fora.
In this context,PM Lee Hsien Loong is making an official visit to Vietnam from March 21-24 toreaffirm the strong ties between the two countries. During his visit, PM Lee Hsien Loong willmeet several Vietnamese leaders, including Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong,President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and NationalAssembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, to discuss ways to further strengthenbilateral cooperation that is underpinned by the Strategic Partnership concludedduring PM Lee Hsien Loong’s last official visit to Vietnam in September 2013,she stressed.
According to theambassador, robust economic ties are a key pillar of bilateral relations. Singaporeis the third largest foreign investor in Vietnam with registered cumulativeinvestments of approximately 39 billion USD in about 1,800 projects. Bilateral trade amounted to 19.8 billion USDin 2016. Singapore is Vietnam’s 6th largesttrading partner, while Vietnam is Singapore’s 12th largest trading partner.
Seven Vietnam-SingaporeIndustrial Parks (VSIPs) across Vietnam are strong symbols of close economicties between the two countries. On thewhole, Singapore businesses recognise Vietnam’s growth potential with its youngpopulation, vibrant workforce and rising middle class, and are actively lookingfor opportunities to expand or set up their operations here in areas such asmanufacturing, retail, banking and e-commerce.
The diplomatwent on to say that trade and investment are only one of many areas in whichSingapore and Vietnam share substantive cooperation. The people-to-peopleties between Singapore and Vietnam have also flourished with greaterconnectivity, tourist and business links between the two countries. More than 17,000Vietnamese officials have participated in training programmes under theSingapore Cooperation Programme. The two nations’ tourism flows have alsoincreased steadily with more flights. There are currently 144 flights betweenSingapore and Vietnam each week, making it convenient for us to visit eachother. There is scope for both sides to further expand air connectivity tofacilitate even greater business and tourist flows.-VNA
