Singaporean President hosts welcome ceremony for Vietnamese counterpart
VGP - Singaporean President Halimah Yacob hosts welcome ceremony for Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc at The Istana on Friday morning
President Nguyen Xuan Phuc inspects the Guard of Honor at The Istana, Singapore, February 25, 2022
This is the first first foreign visit of President Nguyen in 2022 and the first by a Vietnamese head of state to Singapore since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Viet Nam and Singapore established diplomatic relations on August 1, 1973 and elevated the bilateral ties to strategic partnership in 2013.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries have maintained exchanges and contacts.
The two-way trade soared by 23.3 percent to US$8.3 billion last year and reached US$783.9 million in January this year.
As of February 2022, Singapore invested in 2,860 valid projects in Viet Nam with the total registered capital worth US$66 billion making it the second largest foreign investor in Viet Nam.
Remarkably, Singapore was the largest investor in Viet Nam last year with the total investment capital valued at US$10.7 billion, making up 34.4 percent of the total capital investment inflows into Viet Nam.
Currently, Vietnamese and Singaporean airlines have resumed regular commercial flights with a frequency of operations of 14 round trips per week.
During his visit, President Nguyen also meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
