President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to Visit Singapore This Week

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc will pay a State visit to Singapore from February 24-26 at the invitation of his Singaporean counterpart Halimah Yacob.

Rosy Huong

huongthhd@gmail.com February 23, 2022 | 09:16

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Photo: VNA

This is the first State Visit that Singapore will receive since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

President Phuc will be accompanied by his spouse as well as several Ministers, senior officials and a business delegation.

He will receive a ceremonial welcome at the Istana on February 25, followed by a call on President Halimah Yacob, who will host a State Banquet in his honor that evening.

President Phuc will meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and be hosted to lunch. The Vietnamese President and Prime Minister Lee will jointly witness the signing of bilateral agreements that will further strengthen the multifaceted cooperation between Singapore and Vietnam.

He is scheduled to meet Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and Singapore parliamentarians at Parliament House.

President Phuc will deliver the keynote address at the Singapore-Vietnam Business Dialogue on February 25. The Dialogue is organized by the Singapore Business Federation and the Vietnamese Embassy.

The leader will meet Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, and visit the Sembcorp Tengeh Floating Solar Farm on February 26, before departing Singapore.

The ministry said President Phuc’s state visit reaffirms Singapore’s excellent ties with Vietnam, as both countries prepare to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Strategic Partnership in 2023.

President’s Singapore visit reaffirms close bilateral ties

Photo: internet

President Phuc’s upcoming State visit to Singapore aims to reassure and reaffirm the close cooperation in political, economic, and strategic fields between the two countries, amidst complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, a Singaporean expert has said.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)'s correspondents in Singapore, Prof. Bilveer Singh from the National University of Singapore assessed that the visit will convey a message to the world in general and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in particular that even in the context of the pandemic, and in the era of political, economic and health uncertainties, the two countries are still moving forward, and strengthening their bilateral relations based on mutual trust.

According to the professor, both countries have their own ways to benefit each other, which is reflected in the number of Singapore’s industrial parks in Vietnam. Both Vietnam and Singapore are looking forward to strengthening their bilateral relations to become fulcrums of Southeast Asia in terms of political, economic and strategic relations.

Regarding the development of the bilateral relationship since the two countries upgraded it to a strategic partnership in 2013, the expert said that the two nations are extremely important partners of each other.

Both Vietnam and Singapore are parties to the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM ).

The two nations also have a consensus on the Bien Dong Sea (South China Sea) issue, and believe in the rules-based order in which the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 plays an important role, Singh said.

He expressed his hope that Singaporean leaders will soon visit Vietnam and the bilateral relations will be further promoted with mutual trust./.

Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park in Binh Duong province. Photo: vneconomy.vn

Vietnam and Singapore established diplomatic relations on August 1, 1973, and elevated the bilateral ties to a strategic partnership in 2013, according to the Vietnamese Government News.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the two countries have maintained exchanges and contacts.

The two-way trade soared by 23.3% to US$8.3 billion last year and reached US$783.9 million in January this year.

As of February 2022, Singapore invested in 2,860 valid projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital worth US$66 billion making it the second-largest foreign investor in Vietnam.

Remarkably, Singapore was the largest investor in Vietnam last year with a total investment capital valued at US$10.7 billion, making up 34.4% of the total capital investment inflows into Vietnam.

Currently, Vietnamese and Singaporean airlines have resumed regular commercial flights with a frequency of operations of 14 round trips per week.

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Rosy Huong