Vietnam, Singapore look to optimise partnership
During their November 7 meeting in
Singapore, the two leaders said the newly-established strategic
partnership, reached during Prime Minister Lee’s visit to Vietnam in
September this year, is a historical milestone in bilateral ties.
It has opened up new opportunities for the two sides to further expand
and deepen their cooperation in all fields, ranging from
politics-diplomacy, trade and investment to education and training,
culture and people-to-people exchange, they said.
Regarding cooperation in economics, trade and investment, the two sides
said they are pleased with the effective implementation of the Framework
Agreement on Economic Connectivity between the two countries and the
Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks model, agreeing to choose suitable
localities to continue developing the model.
PM Lee
pledged to work closely with the Vietnamese side to encourage
Singaporean enterprises to invest in Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Island,
calling on Vietnam to create favourable conditions and supply
information on policies, administration procedures and land planning in
Phu Quoc for the enterprises.
Deputy PM Ninh said
Vietnam has been speeding up its reforms, especially in finance,
credit and banking to enhance the efficiency of State-owned enterprises
and increasing the competitiveness of its economy and meeting
integration and development requirements.
Proposing
to share Singapore ’s experience with Vietnam in the work, PM Lee
affirmed that his country always gives priority to cooperation with
Vietnam as a strategic partner. He said he considers finance as a
promising realm and hoped for more favourable conditions for Singaporean
financial organisations to expand operations in Vietnam .
On regional and international cooperation, the two sides said they are
pleased with the two countries’ bilateral coordination within the ASEAN
framework, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the
Asia-Europe Economic Meeting (ASEM), and the United Nations.
Deputy PM Ninh spoke highly of Singapore ’s positive stance on
matters relating to peace and stability in the region, including the
East Sea issue.
The Singaporean leader confirmed
that his country will continue its cooperation with and support for
Vietnam in the negotiation process for a Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP) to ensure the TPP is a balanced agreement with adequate benefit
for all parties, especially developing ones.
The
same day, Deputy PM Ninh also met Minister of the Prime Minister’s
Office, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Second Minister for Trade
and Industry S. Iswaran.
They discussed measures to bolster trade and investment cooperation as strategic partners and members of ASEAN.
Minister Iswaran shared Singapore’s experience in human resources
training to meet the requirements of international economic integration,
affirming that Singapore will assist Vietnam in the field to help
the country meet specific needs in training management personnel and
skilled workers.
Deputy PM Ninh is in Singapore
from November 5-8 at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs and
Minister for Law K. Shanmugam under the S. R. Nathan Fellowship.
The S. R. Nathan Fellowship is a high-level
programme through which foreign leaders, prominent personalities and
opinion-shapers are invited to Singapore to exchange ideas and
experiences on current and long-term challenges with Singapore
leaders and senior government officials. The fellowship was launched by
Minister Shanmugam and former President S. R. Nathan in November 2012.-VNA