President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc meets Singaporean counterpart Halimah Yacob

President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (left) holds talks with Singaporean President Halimah Yacob in Singapore. — VNA/VnExpress News Photo Thống Nhất

SINGAPORE — Singaporean President Halimah Yacob on Friday welcomed and underlined the significance of President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc’s visit during talks in Singapore.

She expressed her belief that the visit would achieve great success, bringing the two countries’ strategic partnership to a new height.

President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc expressed his pleasure to visit Singapore for the first time as the President of Việt Nam. He sincerely thanked the President and people of Singapore for the warm welcome. He said Việt Nam always attached importance to and wished to promote the strategic partnership with Singapore to become more reliable and effective.

The two leaders expressed satisfaction with the rapid and strong developments in the two countries’ bilateral relationship, especially since the establishment of the strategic partnership in 2013.

Bilateral economic cooperation is becoming one of the bright spots in the region. Singapore continues to be the fourth-largest trading partner and the largest investor in Việt Nam in ASEAN, and has just become the second-largest investor out of 140 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam with a total registered capital of US$66 billion.

Co-operation in defence, security, culture, education and people-to-people exchanges continues to develop.

The two sides have actively shared experience and supported each other in medical equipment and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Towards the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership in 2023, the two leaders agreed on a number of major directions in the two countries’ cooperation.

The two leaders also agreed to focus on promoting connectivity on economy, focusing on the digital economy, digital transformation, innovation, high-quality human resources, green and sustainable development.

The two leaders acclaimed the countries’ agreement on mutual recognition of vaccine certificates, creating conditions for travel and trade between the two countries, contributing to the socio-economic recovery and development in the “new normal” situation.

They agreed to strengthen co-operation in education, culture, tourism and at regional and international forums.

President Phúc invited Singaporean President Halimah Yacob to visit Việt Nam at an appropriate time and the President of Singapore gladly accepted.

Promoting investment

Promoting investment attraction, particularly in clean energy and sustainable development, is a priority of Việt Nam in the future.

That was the message from President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc as he met executives of leading Singaporean groups on the same day as part of his ongoing State-level visit to the nation.

Among those hosted by the President were leaders of the energy and urban development group Sembcorp Industries, which has implemented 10 Việt Nam-Singapore industrial park (VSIP) projects worth VNĐ15.4 billion in seven localities in Việt Nam.

Praising the VSIP projects that have attracted investors and generated many jobs, Phúc hoped that Sembcorp will build similar IPs in Quảng Trị and Quảng Nam in central Việt Nam and further invest in its projects in Quảng Ngãi and Nghệ An.

He asked the group to channel more capital into sectors with a high proportion of science-technology and innovation, particularly regarding green and sustainable development. Việt Nam will create the best possible conditions for Sembcorp to reap success in investment, Phúc stressed.

Lauding Việt Nam’s strong and comprehensive growth, especially in business climate improvement, and commitment to climate change adaptation, Sembcorp pledged to accompany the country in this field, particularly the development of renewable energy and sustainable industrial parks. 

Meeting Loh Chin Hua, CEO of the Keppel Corporation, which delivers solutions for sustainable urbanisation, the Vietnamese President praised the group’s effective investment in Việt Nam, including its cooperation with a number of Vietnamese partners like Sovico. Keppel is now operating more than 20 projects worth over $3 billion in Việt Nam.

He proposed the corporation invest in large-scale and innovative projects in renewable and clean energy, infrastructure, and smart cities. 

Agreeing with the proposal, the Singaporean CEO said the group is implementing a number of real estate projects in Việt Nam and is aiming for a model, smart and green city.

The leader also met with Nina Yang, CEO of the Surbana Jurong City Global group, and Lee Chong Min, the Founder and Managing Partner of CMIA Capital Partners Singapore. The two enterprises are making a $1.2 billion investment in a 1,000-ha multifunctional project in Hồ Chí Minh City over the next decade. The project will build a high-tech agro-food-ecological urban area with a scale of 100,000 population.

The President asked the businesses to work with the authorities in Việt Nam and HCM City for support during their implementation of the project.

Hosting Chairman of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) Lim Ming Yan, the State leader welcomed the SBF’s work to link Vietnamese and Singaporean firms, contributing to increasing the two countries’ trade to $8.5 billion last year.

Việt Nam encourages Singaporean businesses to invest in infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, high-quality agriculture, IT, smart cities, financial services, and banking, he said. 

Emphasising that investment promotion is a priority of Việt Nam in future, the President suggested that the SBF continue to be a bridge to promote Singaporean investment in Việt Nam, contributing to push the bilateral relations to new heights. — VnExpress News