Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his wife visit Vietnam from March 25-26

According to the announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , at the invitation of Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh and his wife, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore Lawrence Wong and his wife will pay an official visit to Vietnam from March 25-26, 2025.

The visit took place in the context of Vietnam and Singapore upgrading their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership during General Secretary To Lam 's official visit to Singapore from March 11 to 13, at the invitation of Singaporean Prime Minister and Secretary-General of the Singapore People's Action Party (PAP) Lawrence Wong.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said at the time that this was the first Comprehensive Strategic Partnership that Singapore had established with an ASEAN country.

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. (Photo: Government Newspaper)

According to the joint statement on upgrading relations between Vietnam and Singapore, the two sides pledged to continue to consolidate and enhance mutually beneficial cooperation, political trust, and coordinate to resolve current common challenges on the basis of respecting international law, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political institutions of each country, and not interfering in each other's internal affairs, thereby bringing practical benefits to the people of the two countries as well as for a united, self-reliant ASEAN with a central and inclusive role, striving for peace, stability and development of the region and the world.

The two sides agreed to upgrade relations, focusing on promoting cooperation for world peace, security and stability; strengthening economic cooperation and promoting mutually beneficial cooperation areas; enhancing energy cooperation and green growth; capacity building and people-to-people connectivity; enhancing cooperation in digital and emerging technologies; and enhancing cooperation in digital and emerging technologies.

Since 1996, Singapore has always been one of Vietnam's largest partners. Trade turnover between the two countries has increased every year, reaching 8.3 billion USD in 2021; over 9.16 billion USD in 2022; 9 billion USD in 2023; 8.64 billion USD in the first 10 months of 2024.

In terms of investment, as of October 2024, Singapore maintained its leading position in ASEAN, ranking 2nd out of 148 countries and territories investing in Vietnam (after South Korea), with 3,838 valid projects, total registered capital reaching 81.1 billion USD. Singapore's investment projects focus on the following areas: processing and manufacturing industry; real estate business; production and distribution of electricity, gas, water, and air conditioning.

Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) are a symbol of economic cooperation between the two countries. Since the first Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) was launched in 1996 in Binh Duong, Vietnam has become the country where Singapore has built the most industrial parks in the world with 18 VSIPs in 10 provinces and cities, attracting more than 18 billion USD in investment capital and about 900 projects, creating jobs for more than 300,000 workers.

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/thu-tuong-singapore-lawrence-wong-va-phu-nhan-tham-viet-nam-tu-ngay-25-263-211620.html