Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrived in Hanoi on January 12, beginning a four-day visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Immediately after the welcome ceremony for the Singaporean PM at the Presidential Palace, talks were held between the Vietnamese PM and his Singaporean counterpart.

Mr Dung warmly welcomed Mr Lee’s visit to Vietnam, which, he said, would promote long-term and close cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore. PM Dung also congratulated Singapore on quickly overcoming the impact of the global economic downturn and regaining momentum for its current impressive rate of growth.

For his part, Mr Lee expressed his delight at the visit to Vietnam and stressed that his country greatly values the development of its friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam.

He lauded Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements in 2009 and expressed hope that the Vietnamese economy would continue to grow in 2010.

Host and guest noted with satisfaction the rapid and positive development of the friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries after five years of implementing the Vietnam-Singapore framework agreement to connect the two economies with a focus on politics, economics, trade, investment, education and training, tourism, finance and transport. Both sides agreed to expand cooperation in construction and urban planning in the future.

Mr Dung asked Singapore to continue encouraging its businesses to carry out investment projects in Vietnam and accelerate the inflow of investment capital from third countries into both countries.

The two government leaders spoke highly of the operational efficiency of Vietnam-Singapore industrial parks (VSIP), describing them as a symbol of successful bilateral economic cooperation. They are expected to attend a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Hai Phong VSIP urban, industrial and service park on January 13.

They agreed to boost cooperation in trade, education and training, tourism, culture, transport, national security and other areas.

Both sides were keen to closely cooperate at regional and international forums such as ASEAN, APEC, ASEM and the UN. On the occasion, PM Dung congratulated Singapore on fulfilling its APEC 2009 presidential term, which helped to enhance APEC’s status and promote economic links in the Asia- Pacific region.

The Singaporean PM congratulated Vietnam on taking over the ASEAN Chair in 2010 and pledged to support Vietnam in fulfilling its role with the aim of accelerating the implementation of the ASEAN Charter and strengthening ASEAN’s ties with non-bloc partners.