Vietnam and Singapore enjoy sound partnership
VOV.VN - Vietnam and Singapore enjoy a fruitful partnership across a variety of areas, including politics, economics, security, and people-to-people exchanges.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Mai Phuoc Dung made the statement at a ceremony held on August 25 to celebrate the 77th National Day of Vietnam in Singapore with the participation of more than 300 local guests.
With regard to the economy, Singapore is the second largest nation among the 139 countries and territories investing in the Vietnamese market.
As of the end of June, Singapore runs approximately 3,000 projects in the country with a total investment of roughly US$70 billion.
During the first half of the year, the island city-state poured US$4.3 billion into Vietnam, becoming the largest foreign investor in the country. Meanwhile, two-way trade soared nearly 22% on-year to US$15.7 billion.
Currently, Vietnam represents the 12th biggest trade partner of Singapore, while Singapore is the 15th largest trading partner of Vietnam, he noted.
The diplomat went on to affirm that people-to-people exchanges represent one of the key pillars in joint diplomatic ties. This is down to tens of thousands of Vietnamese scholars, students, and workers living and studying in Singapore, thereby serving as bridges linking the two nations, he said.
According to Ambassador Dung, Vietnam has seen a strong recovery following the pandemic, with GDP growth in the first half of this year reaching 6.42%.
Singaporean Minister of Communications and Information Josephine Teo highlighted that Vietnam continues to be an important partner and friend of Singapore in ASEAN.
Both sides have co-operated closely in several key areas of trade, investment, finance, security, and defence, she said, underlining that regular exchanges among leaders of both sides and mutual support throughout the pandemic period underlined the strong ties between the two countries.
Minister Teo expressed her delight that Singapore was the largest investor in the Vietnamese market in 2020 and 2021 with a total investment of around US$20 billion.
At present, 10 Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) locations are in operation, creating 270,000 jobs for Vietnamese labourers, she noted, adding that both sides have expanded their partnership to many new other areas such as cybersecurity, smart city building, sustainable development, and the digital economy.
As members of ASEAN, both sides have also worked hand in hand and shared viewpoints on a wide range of regional issues, she added.