Viet Nam, Singapore to lift bilateral ties to new height

The agreement was reached by General Secretary To Lam and Secretary-General of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and Prime Minister of Singapore Lawrence Wong during their phone talks on Friday.

To congratulated Wong on his election as PAP Secretary-General, expressing his belief that under the leadership of the Singaporean government led by Wong, Singapore will achieve more accomplishments, further promoting its economy and enhancing its international status.

He highly appreciated assistance of the Singaporean government for Viet Nam, especially in terms of training and the formulation of mechanisms and policies for socio-economic development.

Viet Nam always treasures and expects to deepen the strategic partnership with Singapore towards a more robust, substantive, and effective manner.

To emphasized the need to strengthen political trust via all-level delegation exchanges, particularly between the two Parties.

Both sides' relevant agencies should work closely to build strategies and plans for cooperation in areas such as digital transformation and renewable energy, aiming to create significant breakthroughs to meet the demands and development goals of the new era, the Vietnamese leader suggested.

He also called on the two sides to step up financial and tourism cooperation, and people-to-people linkages, and expanding defense and security cooperation, including the establishment of a national population data center and the integration of digital platforms such as SingPass and VNeID, which are actively being studied by both sides to facilitate entry and exit for citizens of the two countries.

Wong, for his part, consented with the Vietnamese Party chief's proposals regarding orientations for promoting bilateral cooperation in the coming time.

Singaporean businesses hope to increase their investment and business activities in Viet Nam, especially in new sectors such as renewable energy development, carbon credit trading, and developing new-generation Viet Nam–Singapore industrial parks (VSIPs) with a focus on hi-tech industries, clean energy, semiconductor production, and artificial intelligence (AI), he noted.

The two leaders affirmed that the network of 18 VSIPs in Viet Nam is regarded as a symbol of successful cooperation between the two nations.

Viet Nam and Singapore have been actively advancing the Digital Economy-Green Economy Partnership, an important cooperation area that facilitates the transformation of both economies toward new potential fields such as digital economy, green economy and circular economy, innovation, clean energy, and responding to climate change, they highlighted.

They stressed the importance of fostering coordination between the two countries within ASEAN and other regional and international forums to contribute positively to the group's resilience, prosperity and sustainable development, and enhancing the central role of the bloc in the region./.