Vietnam, Singapore seek to turn shared vision into concrete cooperation

This is the first official visit to Singapore by a Permanent Member of the CPV Central Committee’s Secretariat. It also features the first meeting of the Vietnam - Singapore strategic dialogue mechanism, agreed by the two sides’ leaders during General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee and President To Lam’s state visit to Singapore in May.

The Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group signed a cooperation agreement with Unicom of Singapore on February 4, 2026 (Photo: VNA)
The Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group signed a cooperation agreement with Unicom of Singapore on February 4, 2026 (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The upcoming official visit to Singapore by Member of the Political Bureau and Permanent Member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Tran Cam Tu demonstrates the two countries’ determination to turn common perceptions and high-level agreements into concrete programmes, projects and cooperation outcomes, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong.

At the invitation of the Singaporean People’s Action Party (PAP) Central Executive Committee, Politburo member and Permanent Member of he CPV Central Committee's Secretariat Tran Cam Tu will lead a high-level CPV delegation to Singapore and co-chair the inaugural Singapore-Vietnam Strategic Dialogue from August 24-25.

The visit takes place as the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Singapore continues to develop strongly, opening up new opportunities for deeper, more substantive and sustainable cooperation between the two Parties and countries.

Milestone marked by “firsts”

This is the first official visit to Singapore by a Permanent Member of the CPV Central Committee’s Secretariat. It also features the first meeting of the Vietnam - Singapore strategic dialogue mechanism, agreed by the two sides’ leaders during General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee and President To Lam’s state visit to Singapore in May. Notably, Vietnam is the first Southeast Asian country to establish such a dialogue mechanism with the PAP.

Cuong said these milestones reflect a qualitative development in relations between the two Parties, providing a stronger political foundation and fresh momentum for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. He stressed that the visit and the strategic dialogue demonstrate both sides’ determination to translate their common perceptions and high-level agreements into concrete outcomes.

According to Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang, during his trip, Tu is scheduled to hold meetings with Singaporean leaders and engage in other important activities, reflecting the high level of political trust between the two countries.

Building a sustainable cooperation future

According to a press release issued by Singapore's Public Service Division (PSD) on August 21, Tu and Chan Chun Sing, Assistant Secretary-General of PAP, who is also Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Defence Minister of Singapore, will co-chair the Strategic Dialogue.

Under the theme “Towards a Resilient Future: Elevating Singapore-Vietnam Partnership for Technology and Capacity Building to New Height,” the dialogue will focus on future-ready talent development and technology cooperation, including discussions on two sub-themes “Leading for Tomorrow: Developing Future-Ready Talent,” and “Building a New Model for Technology Cooperation: Towards a Shared Innovation Space”.

Cuong expected the visit to generate substantive progress in three areas: strengthening strategic exchanges and coordination between the two Parties; creating breakthroughs in technology connectivity by turning the “three parties” cooperation model of the two countries —the state, businesses and researchers— into concrete projects; and elevating personnel training into a pillar of bilateral relations.

Strong foundation of strategic trust

The new momentum in Party-to-Party relations builds on more than five decades of diplomatic ties, established in 1973, and more than a decade of Strategic Partnership, established in 2013, before the two countries upgraded their relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2025.

The strategic trust has provided a solid foundation for economic, trade and investment cooperation. As of March, Singapore was the second-largest foreign investor in Vietnam, with 4,495 valid projects worth nearly 96.4 billion USD in registered capital.

The 28 Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs) across 17 provinces and cities of Vietnam have become a prominent symbol of the two countries’ economic partnership, serving as a key driver of global investment attraction.

Two-way trade reached 10.69 billion USD in 2025, up 12.5% year on year, and an estimated 3.6 billion USD in the first three months of 2026, up 29.3%.

Cooperation in education and human resource development has also produced notable results, with the Singapore Cooperation Programme having trained more than 21,000 Vietnamese officials over more than three decades.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Tran Phuoc Anh described the new Party-to-Party dialogue as a “strategic track” that could help bilateral ties become more coordinated, long-term oriented and results-driven, complementing existing dialogue mechanisms between the two countries.

He expressed his hope that the dialogue would help move cooperation from “sharing experiences” towards jointly designing and implementing cooperation initiatives./.

VNA

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