Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (L) meets with Singapore’s President Halimah Yacob (Photo: VNA) Singapore (VNA) –Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh met with Singapore’sPresident Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on July 31 as partof his ongoing official visit to the country.
President Halimah Yacob notedwith pleasure the positive development of the Vietnam-Singapore relationshipafter the two countries established their bilateral diplomatic ties 45 yearsago and the Strategic Partnership five years back.
She highlighted theeffective cooperation in various areas between the two countries, especially intourism and people-to-people exchange, citing nearly 300,000 Singaporean touriststo Vietnam so far this year and more than 140 direct flights per week.
The leader thanked Vietnamfor its support to and close cooperation with Singapore in 2018 when the latterassumes the post of the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN).
As the ASEAN Chair,Singapore wishes to promote an ASEAN of unity, self-reliance and creativity,she said, adding that ASEAN should take the lead in grasping trends of thepresent era to serve development goals, narrow the development gap andeffectively overcome security challenges.
Minh conveyed PresidentTran Dai Quang’s invitation to the President and her spouse to soon pay anofficial visit to Vietnam.
He stressed that Singaporeis always Vietnam’s leading trade and investment partner, with two-way tradehitting 8.6 billion USD and Singapore’s total investment capital in Vietnam reaching43 billion USD in 2017, affirming that Vietnam will continue to coordinate withSingaporean partners to maintain the pace.
♉[Photo: Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh on official visit to Singapore]
At a meeting with SingaporeanPM Lee Hsien Loong, Minh reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of always attachingimportance to the Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
He thanked Singapore forgoing along with Vietnam in its development and integration, especially Singapore’ssupport in high-quality personnel training and its sharing of experience inmacro management.
Minh described the successof nine Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks in Vietnam as a symbol and model ofthe bilateral ties and suggested Singapore shift investment to the technology sector,thus matching trends of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
In response, PM Lee HsienLoong said Minh’s suggestion also matches Singapore’s investment trend.
He recalled PM Nguyen XuanPhuc’s visit to Singapore last April, during which the two sides agreed to stepup cooperation in such new areas as smart urban and renewable energy and pushedto build a number of high-tech zones in Vietnam in the time ahead.
Talking about regional andinternational cooperation, host and guest emphasised the need to ensure the principlesof maintaining peace, stability, security, and navigation and aviation safetyand freedom in the East Sea, as well as handling disputes by peaceful measuresand respecting international law.
They also consented topromote the common voice and the central role of ASEAN in the evolving regionalstructure.
Minh spoke highly of thesuccesses Singapore has reaped as the ASEAN Chair, as well as the sharing of viewpointsand common interests of the two sides in many strategic issues, including thoseon promoting free trade, and regional and international economic connectivityand integration.
Besides, the two sides haveclosely coordinated with each other in ratifying and bringing into effect theComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)to which both are signatories, he noted.
The Singaporean leader saidthe Vietnam-Singapore Strategic Partnership is one of the most effective andtrustworthy relations as the two sides share many interests, both bilaterallyand multilaterally. -VNA
VNA
