Singapore (VNA)🅠 – National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on December 2, as part of his official visit to Singapore.

Wong welcomed Man on his first official visit to Singapore in his new role, which comes at a time when Vietnam-Singapore relations are flourishing across various sectors, underpinned by strong political trust and robust economic, trade and investment ties. He expressed his belief that the visit would set key orientations to further fortify bilateral ties in the near future. He shared his plan to visit Vietnam next year and extended his invitation to Party General Secretary To Lam to visit Singapore at a convenient time. NA Chairman Man conveyed greetings from Party General Secretary To Lam, State President Luong Cuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and other Vietnamese Party and State leaders to PM Wong. He believed that in his role as Secretary-General of the People’s Action Party, PM Wong would lead Singapore to obtain greater socio-economic achievements, particularly through the “Forward Singapore” agenda, thereby elevating Singapore’s standing on the global and regional arena. Reflecting on over five decades of diplomatic ties and a decade of strategic partnership, both leaders affirmed the continuous development of Vietnam-Singapore ties, marked by major milestones across various areas and strenghened political trust through regular exchange of high-ranking delegations. They vowed to continue working closely together to lift bilateral ties to a new height. They expressed their satisfaction with the robust economic collaboration, especially Singapore’s position as the second largest foreign investor in Vietnam, with over 3,800 projects worth over 81 billion USD. A network of 18 Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs) across 13 Vietnamese cities and provinces has become a hallmark of their successful economic cooperation. Building on this solid foundation, the two leaders reaffirmed their determination to further advance this crucial pillar of cooperation via increasing the sharing of information and experiences in tackling emerging socio-economic challenges, promoting investment by leveraging the strength of each country, particularly in the development of a sustainable and smart VSIP 2.0 system. Areas with potential for breakthrough growth, including green logistics, data centres, semiconductor, clean energy, carbon credit, food security and green finance, were also highlighted. Host and guest agreed on the need to expand defence-security cooperation in a more practical and effective manner. They also explored ways to foster joint work in other key areas such as education-training, culture, and people-to-people exchanges, thus contributing to raising mutual understanding between people of the two countries. On the occasion, Man suggested the Singaporean Government continue supporting Vietnamese businesses, investors and around 25,000 Vietnamese people living, working and studying in Singapore, contributing to its socio-economic development. On global and regional issues of shared concern, both sides pledged to offer mutual support at multilateral forums and organisations, maintain ASEAN’s solidarity and central role in strategic issues impacting the security and development of the ASEAN Community and the broader region, including the East Sea issue. Later the same day, NA Chairman Man and his spouse, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, toured the Gardens by the Bay. Covering an area of over 100 ha, this stunning nature park, located in the heart of Singapore, exemplifies the Singaporean Government's commitment to transforming the nation into a leading global "green" hub./.