Vietnamese, Singaporean Prime Ministers hold first summit meeting on sidelines of ASEAN Summits

The talks were held on the sidelines of the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits in Vientiane, Laos on October 9.

The Vietnamese leader expressed thanks to the Government and people of Singapore for helping Viet Nam overcome the consequences of Typhoon Yagi.

He pledged to create favorable conditions for Singaporean businesses to expand investment in Viet Nam, giving priorities in such areas as high technology, digital economy, circular economy, innovation, semiconductors, artificial intelligence.

Pham suggested Singapore assist Viet Nam in building a national innovation center for data science and called on both nations to foster collaboration in food production, supply chain logistics, and aquaculture.

Lawrence, for his part, expressed his delight that Viet Nam was Singapore's largest rice supplier in the first half of this year, expecting to strengthen ties in agriculture and food security with Viet Nam.

Singapore is willing to import fruits, food, and seafood from Viet Nam, he said, stating that Singapore will continue supporting Viet Nam in improving the quality of its workforce, especially at the strategic level, maintain scholarships at various levels, and effectively implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Innovation Talent Exchange Program between the two countries.

The two leaders expressed their satisfactions at the comprehensive development of the bilateral cooperation across all sectors, affirming their determination to upgrade the bilateral ties to a new height.

Economic cooperation remains an important pillar in the bilateral relationship, they emphasized, stressing the need to effectively implement the Viet Nam-Singapore Connection Framework Agreement and the MoU on the establishment of digital economy–green economy partnership.

They asked for enhancing telecommunications infrastructure connectivity, and developing the sustainable and smart Viet Nam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) 2.0 system and clean energy.

It is necessary to foster stronger ties in fields of defense-security, education-training, culture and people-to-people exchanges, the two Prime Ministers noted.

They vowed to strengthen ASEAN's solidarity and pay attention to the sustainable development of sub-regions, including the Mekong sub-region, thus contributing to the resilient, prosperous and sustainable development of the bloc, and upholding its central role in the region.

They pledged to turn the East Sea into a sea of peace, cooperation, and development, and work with other ASEAN Member States to accelerate negotiations on a practical and effective Code of Conduct in the East (COC) in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)./.