FM Balakrishnan is on an official visit to Vietnam toattend the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)’s High-level Policy Dialogue, aninitiative by Vietnam on the occasion of the grouping’s 25th anniversary.
The Singaporean diplomat expressed his admiration for Hanoi’slong history and cultural richness, saying the capital city has a distinctiveblend of old and new and this should be preserved in conjunction with its urbandevelopment effort. He added that Hanoi and Singapore can learn from eachother’s experience in multiple fields.
Dung, for his part, briefed his guest about the city’s developmentover the past several years.
Hanoi has been seeing rapid urbanization and is strivingto attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to boost local economic growth, thesecretary said, noting that among foreign investors in Hanoi, Singapore rankssecond with total registered capital amounting 9.38 billion USD.
He said as Hanoi wants to become a green, civilized andmodern city, it will promote urban renewal with infrastructure development andexpansion of greenery spaces.
To this end, it is important to beef up cooperation withforeign partners, including Singapore, in technology transfer and experiencesharing.
Dung expected the Singaporean FM will act as a bridgebetween Singapore and Hanoi, and Vietnam at large, to further advance thebilateral ties./.
VNA