Politburo member and Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen (R) and Singaporean President Halimah Yacob. (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Politburo member and Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen hailed Singapore as an important trade and investment partner of the southern largest economic hub while receiving Singaporean President Halimah Yacob on October 19.
Nen said HCM City is recovering strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic and preparing for celebrations of the 50th founding anniversary of Vietnam-Singapore diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of the bilateral strategic partnership in 2023.
As room for bilateral cooperation remains huge, he said HCM City and Singapore need to further step up their long-standing partnership in a more intensive manner.
With challenges faced by the city in infrastructure, human resources and climate change, Nen expected that Singapore would share its experience in public administration and services; renewable, green energy and infrastructure development; response to climate change and development of start-ups and key products.
President Halimah, for her part, spoke highly of HCM City's target to build itself into a financial and economic hub of the country and the region as well.
She suggested the city issue incentives to draw more foreign direct investments, including investors from Singapore.
The President said that a number of Singaporean enterprises want to invest in the city as it boasts young workforce, good living conditions and support from the municipal authorities.
Singapore has always accompanied Vietnam in general and HCM City in particular during the process of mutual development, she said.
According to the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, two-way trade between HCM City and Singapore reached nearly 8 billion USD in 2021. Singapore's total registered investment was 11.9 billion USD, ranking first among 116 countries and territories investing in the city./.
