Making Vietnam - Singapore relations a model of cooperation in the region

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh holds talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the official visit to Vietnam by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is of great significance, being the first high-level delegation exchange after the two countries established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the official visit to Singapore by General Secretary To Lam , a highlight for 2025 on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Vietnam's National Day and the 60th anniversary of Singapore's National Day, helping to send a message about the two countries' determination to act to concretize the contents of the new cooperation framework.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh congratulates Singapore on its development achievements - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

The Prime Minister congratulated Singapore on its development achievements; wished Singapore a successful 2025 General Election; and believed that Singapore would successfully implement the "Go Singapore" and "Singapore Dream" programs, building a fair, harmonious and increasingly prosperous society. The Prime Minister also shared that Vietnam is "accelerating, breaking through, reaching the finish line", striving to achieve the double-digit development target from 2026, towards a new era - an era of rising up, developing wealth, civilization and prosperity for the nation.

Singaporean Prime Minister congratulates Vietnam on its great achievements after 40 years of Doi Moi - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong expressed his delight at his first official visit to Vietnam as Prime Minister, right after General Secretary To Lam's official visit to Singapore to promote the implementation of specific cooperation results between the two countries. The Singaporean Prime Minister congratulated Vietnam on its great achievements after 40 years of Doi Moi, becoming one of the leading economies in ASEAN, affirming that Vietnam is Singapore's leading important partner in the region.

The Singaporean Prime Minister emphasized that the establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is a historic event in bilateral relations, especially Vietnam being Singapore's first Comprehensive Strategic Partner in ASEAN, reflecting the trust, closeness and aspiration of the leaders and people of the two countries to develop the Vietnam - Singapore relationship more deeply and effectively.

The two leaders agreed on "decisive and timely" measures to increase political trust, create new breakthroughs for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and soon complete and effectively implement the Action Program to implement the new relationship framework for the 2025-2030 period.

The two sides agreed to increase delegation exchanges and contacts at all levels; effectively implement bilateral cooperation mechanisms, especially the annual meeting between the two countries' Prime Ministers; further strengthen defense and security cooperation, especially cyber security, in the spirit of trust and mutual understanding, contributing to peace, stability and development in the region and the world.

The two Prime Ministers pledged to strengthen economic ties through effectively promoting the five pillars of the Agreement on Connecting the Two Economies, the Green Economy - Digital Economy Partnership, and making Vietnam - Singapore cooperation a model of cooperation in the region.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed that Singapore facilitate the introduction of Vietnamese agricultural, forestry, aquatic and processed food products into Singapore's distribution system; develop the VSIP 2.0 network in a sustainable and smart direction, applying smart production technology to optimize the efficiency of attracting high-quality capital into Vietnam.

The Singaporean Prime Minister agreed that the two countries need to clarify key issues to upgrade the current VSIP system to VSIP 2.0 to meet the requirements of greener, smarter and more efficient development.

The Singaporean Prime Minister agreed with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's "6 more" proposal, which promotes deeper political trust, more substantive defense and security cooperation, more effective economic connectivity, closer people-to-people exchanges, more breakthrough science and technology cooperation, more innovative innovation, and closer international regional cooperation; suggested that the two countries soon have substantive developments in offshore wind power exports, carbon credit exchange, cooperation in the field of financial technology through the cross-border retail payment connection project using QR codes, cross-border data transmission, thereby further facilitating production and business activities of enterprises of the two countries.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to continue promoting cooperation in other key areas, such as education, training, improving the quality of human resources, food security, cultural and artistic exchanges, tourism, aviation connectivity, and connecting businesses and people.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested that Singapore accept Vietnamese workers under work visas, expand the industries that accept workers, create conditions for Vietnamese language learning in schools with many Vietnamese students, and promote the active role of the Vietnamese community in Singapore.

Discussing multilateral and regional cooperation, the two sides appreciated the two countries' regular coordination and mutual support in elections and candidacy for United Nations agencies and organizations; agreed to coordinate with other ASEAN countries to ensure solidarity, unity, maintain ASEAN's central role; and promote sustainable development of sub-regions, including the Mekong sub-region.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to maintain ASEAN's common stance on the East Sea issue; emphasize the importance of freedom and safety of navigation and aviation; ensure full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC); create a favorable environment and strive to build a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), in accordance with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

After the talks, the two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing ceremony of cooperation documents between the two countries, including the Letter of Intent on Cooperation in Building an Action Program to Implement the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the 2025-2030 Period; Letter of Intent on Strengthening Cross-Border Power Trade Cooperation towards the ASEAN Power Grid between the Ministries of Industry and Trade of the two countries; Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Digital Development and Innovation; and many agreements and documents on investment cooperation in the fields of wind power trade, cross-border payments using QR codes, digital development and innovation, and people-to-people exchanges...

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong witnessed the ceremony of exchanging the Letter of Intent on cooperation in building an Action Program to implement the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the 2025-2030 period between the Foreign Ministries of Vietnam and Singapore - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

The two Prime Ministers witnessed the ceremony of exchanging the Letter of Intent on enhancing cross-border electricity trade cooperation towards the ASEAN power grid between the Ministries of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and Singapore - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

The two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of digital development and innovation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Singaporean Ministry of Digital Development and Information - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

The two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam and the Singapore Electronic Money Transfer Network to deploy bilateral retail payments via QR codes between Vietnam and Singapore - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

The two Prime Ministers witnessed the handover ceremony of investment cooperation documents between Vietnamese and Singaporean enterprises - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

On the morning of March 26, at the Presidential Palace, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the welcoming ceremony for Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his wife on an official visit to Vietnam from March 25-26.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh presided over the welcoming ceremony for Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his wife on an official visit to Vietnam - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Taking place right after General Secretary To Lam visited Singapore and upgraded the Vietnam-Singapore relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, this visit contributed to promoting the realization of the results of General Secretary To Lam's visit to Singapore and the new framework of relations between the two countries.

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/dua-quan-he-viet-nam-singapore-tro-thanh-dien-hinh-hop-tac-trong-khu-vuc-161877.html