President’s Singapore visit to reaffirm close bilateral ties: Singaporean expert

Singapore (VNA) – Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's upcoming State visit to Singapore from February 24-26 aims to reassure and reaffirm the close cooperation in political, economic and strategic fields between the two countries, amidst complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, an Singaporean expert has said.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)'s correspondents in Singapore, Prof. Bilveer Singh from the National University of Singapore assessed that the visit will convey a message to the world in general and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in particular that even in the context of the pandemic, and in the era of political, economic and health uncertainties, the two countries are still moving forward, and strengthening their bilateral relations based on mutual trust.

According to the professor, both countries have their own ways to benefit each other, which is reflected in the number of Singapore’s industrial parks in Vietnam. Both Vietnam and Singapore are looking forward to strengthening their bilateral relations to become fulcrums of Southeast Asia in terms of political, economic and strategic relations.

Regarding the development of the bilateral relationship since the two countries upgraded it to a strategic partnership in 2013, the expert said that the two nations are extremely important partners of each other.

Both Vietnam and Singapore are parties to the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM ).

The two nations also have a consensus on the East Sea issue, and believe in the rules-based order in which the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 plays an important role, Singh said.

He expressed his hope that Singaporean leaders will soon visit Vietnam and the bilateral relations will be further promoted with mutual trust./.