Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong (Source: AP) Vietnam and Singapore establisheddiplomatic ties on August 1, 1973, and bilateral ties have been thrivingespecially since Vietnam became a member of the Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) in 1995.
The two countries signed a JointDeclaration on Comprehensive Cooperation Framework in the 21st Century in 2004, creating a legal foundation and optimal conditions to promotetheir all-around friendship and cooperation,
On the occasion of PM Lee’s visitto Vietnam in September 2013 to celebrate the 40th anniversary ofbilateral diplomatic ties, both sides issued a Joint Statement on theEstablishment of Strategic Partnership.
Over the past years, theVietnam-Singapore strategic partnership has been going forward in a practicaland trustworthy manner with regular exchange of visits by delegations at alllevels and extended cooperation via Party, State, National Assembly andgovernment channels. Bilateral links across the fields of economy-trade andinvestment, national defence-security, education-training, transport, tourism,finance and law have flourished.
Since 1996, Singapore has beenone of the three largest partners of Vietnam. The island state is Vietnam’sthird largest trade partner in ASEAN and the sixth largest in the world.
Two-way trade hit 7.1 billion USDlast year, with major traded products being petrol and oils, computer,electronics and spare parts, and mobile phones. Additionally, Vietnam shipsfisheries, coffee, pepper and vegetables to Singapore.
Singapore’s direct investment inVietnam has kept going up since 1998, now totaling 39 billion USD, making theisland state the third largest investor among 101 countries and territories in Vietnam
Singapore’s investment is mostlyin real estate, processing industry, engineering and construction, with the Vietnam-SingaporeIndustrial Park (VSIP) considered a symbol of Singapore investment efficiency.
The two countries have beenorganising trade ministerial-level meetings every 8 months and alternately ineach country under their Framework Agreement on Vietnam-Singapore Connectivity signedon December 6, 2005 in Singapore. So far, they have convened 12 meetings, withthe latest one held in Singapore last September.
The two countries’ State banks haveworked closely together via regular exchange of visits to share information andexperience. Singapore actively offers technical support and personnel trainingto Vietnam, and wants to join the finance-banking restructure in Vietnam.
Affiliation in aviation, maritimenavigation and road transport also expanded, evidenced by the launch of directflights linking Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Phu Quoc with Singapore. Bothsides shared their master plans on seaport development and agreed to jointlybuild and manage Thi Vai seaport in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau.
In April 2007, Vietnam andSingapore signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Education Cooperation. TheSingaporean government annually offers university scholarships to Vietnamesestudents. The two countries also signed agreements on a training programme inSingapore for mid and high-ranking Vietnamese Party officials for 2011-2013 anda specialised training programme for high-ranking Vietnamese Party officialsfor 2013-2015 and 2016-2017.
In 2014, Singapore became thefifth most popular study destination for Vietnamese students with nearly 8,500Vietnamese students.
In cultural field, the two nationsmainly partner within the framework of the ASEAN Committee for Culture andInformation (ASEAN – COCI). Singapore is Vietnam’s significant tourist market andalso a popular destination for Vietnamese travellers. The Vietnam-SingaporeTourism Cooperation Joint Committee has so far convened 14 sessions, with themost recent one being held in the Central Highlands city of Da Lat in May 2016.
Last year, Vietnam welcomed257,014 visitors from Singapore, up 8.7 percent annually while nearly 470,000Vietnamese visited the island state, marking a 12 percent increase. Since 2006,bilateral tourism coordination has been added to the framework of the twoeconomies’ connectivity.
In March 2008, the two justiceministers signed an MoU on Legal and Judicial Cooperation. Both sides workedclosely together at multilateral and global forums such as ASEAN, theAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) andthe United Nations.
Singapore is actively assistingVietnam in building the agenda for the APEC 2017.
The two countries have activelycooperated, shared opinions and protected ASEAN’s common stance on strategicsecurity in the region, including the East Sea issue.-VNA
VNA
