Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his entourage arrived in Singapore on August 13 for an official visit to the country at the invitation of his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.

Following the welcome ceremony, the two Government leaders held talks on measures to further strengthen the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

Host and guest informed each other of the political, social and economic situation in their respective countries in recent times and expressed their delight at the fine relations in economics, trade and investment.

The Vietnam-Singapore industrial park in southern Binh Duong province is a typical model of investment cooperation between Vietnam and foreign enterprises, which the two leaders wished, will be expanded to other Vietnamese provinces and cities.

They affirmed their determination to implement a joint declaration on the Vietnam-Singapore comprehensive cooperation framework in the 21st century and a framework agreement on linking the Vietnamese and Singaporean economies in the six cooperation areas of finance, investment, trade-service, transport, post and telecommunications, information and technology and education and training. They also agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in other fields such as food processing, garments and footwear while assessing Singapore’s new investment projects in Bac Ninh, Thua Thien-Hue, and Phu Yen provinces and in Hai Phong city.

The two Governments will create suitable conditions for ministries, enterprises to carry out investment projects for mutual benefit.

The Singaporean Government will continue helping Vietnam train human resources by providing scholarships to Vietnamese students in Singapore and promoting educational cooperation programmes between the two countries’ universities, Mr Lee said.

During the talks, the two PMs compared notes on regional and international issues of mutual concern and agreed to maintain closer cooperation under the ASEAN cooperation framework with a view to achieving the goal of building the ASEAN community by 2015 and the ASEAN Charter.

PM Dung said Vietnam will play an active role in making the 13th ASEAN Summit and related meetings scheduled for November in Singapore successful.

The country is also expected to host a Meeting of Environment Ministers from East Asia in the lead up to the 11th informal Meeting of the ASEAN Environment Ministers slated for the fourth quarter of next year, Mr Dung said.

After the talks, Prime Ministers Nguyen Tan Dung and Lee Hsien Loong witnessed the signing of cooperation contracts between Singaporean companies and Vietnamese partners to carry out projects in Vietnam’s provinces of Thua Thien-Hue, Phu Yen and Bac Ninh and Hai Phong City.

The same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with Singaporean President Sellapan Rama Nathan, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

In the evening, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife gave a banquet in honour of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, his wife and entourage.

PM Dung highlighted Vietnam’s renewal achievements over the past 20 years, particularly in the fields of international relations, trade and investment in recent years.

He said Singapore is one of leading countries in trade and investment in Vietnam. Two-way trade reached nearly US$8 billion in 2006 and US$4.5 billion in the first half of this year. Singapore now ranks first among 79 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with a total of 500 projects valued at US$9.6 billion.

The Prime Minister further said the two governments are facilitating the implementation of the contents of the framework agreement on linking the Vietnamese and Singaporean economies.

PM Dung affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to foreign investors, considering them an integral part of the Vietnamese economy. The success of foreign investors is also the success of Vietnam, PM Dung said.

During the meeting, PM Dung answered some questions raised by Singaporean investors and foreign businesses about Vietnam’s economic development, investment environment, securities market, and equitization of commerce banks in Vietnam.

He also witnessed the signing of agreements, contracts and deals worth hundreds of millions of US dollars between Vietnamese and Singaporean enterprises and foreign enterprises. The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance granted a licence to Singapore’s Great Eastern insurance company.