Hanoi (VNA) – Over the past 50 years, Vietnam andSingapore have been enjoying a thriving partnership with great achievements in allfields.

Growing strategic partnership

Vietnam and Singapore set up their bilateral diplomatic relations onAugust 1, 1973, and this makes Singapore become one of the first countries to establish diplomaticrelations with Vietnam after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. In the1990s, the bilateral ties expanded strongly, especially after Vietnam became amember of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995.

In 2013, Singapore become one of the first ASEAN membercountries to set up a strategic partnership with Vietnam, opening up a new erain bilateral ties with win-win cooperation and mutual respect and trust. Thebilateral ties have been deepened in five pillars and expanded to other fields, along with closecoordination at international and multilateral forums.

Bilateral collaboration through Party, State, Government andparliament channels as well as in specific sectors has been continuouslystrengthened.

Over the recent years, despite impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sideshave maintained delegation exchanges and meetings at high and all levels,including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit in February 2023,during which the two sides agreed to continue to foster political trust throughincreasing high-level exchanges and meetings as well as effective implementingbilateral cooperation mechanisms and agreements.

Many cooperation deals were signed during the visit,including a memorandum of understanding on bilateral partnership in digitaleconomy and green economy, creating a new motivation for bilateral ties in thetime to come.

Along with bilateral cooperation, the two sides havecoordinated closely at regional and international forums, contributing topromoting regional linkage and connectivity, narrowing the development gapand enhancing the capacity to deal with emerging challenges, thus contributingto efforts to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

The two countries have worked closely together within theASEAN to improve the role and position of both sides in the grouping as well asin the world, maintaining the central role of the association in the regionalsecurity architecture.

Bilateral collaboration in defence-security has beenstrengthened with regular high-level exchanges and existing dialogues and annualcooperation mechanisms. The two countries have also shared viewpoints on strategic securityissues in the region, including that on the East Sea, while protecting the commonstance of the ASEAN for peace and security in the region.

Economic-trade cooperation – highlight in bilateral ties

Together with sound political relations, bilateral economic,trade and have been promoted extensively and intensively. Economic-trade cooperationbetween Vietnam and Singapore is one of the model partnership in SoutheastAsia.

Despite the pandemic impacts, two-way trade increased 23.3% yearon year to 8.3 billion USD in 2021, and 10% to over 9 billion USD in 2022.

Vietnam and Singapore have supplementary economicstructures, and both are members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreementfor Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP).

During then President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit toSingapore in February 2022, the two sides signed five cooperation deals amongministries and agencies, along with the nearly 30 agreements among localities andbusinesses with a total value of nearly 11 billion USD.

As of the end of June, Singapore had been the largest ASEANinvestor in Vietnam and the second among the 143 countries and territoriesinvesting in Vietnam, with 3,200 valid projects worth 73.4 billion USD.

Singaporean investors have been present in 51 out of the 63cities and provinces across Vietnam, mostly in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and BacNinh, focusing on sectors of manufacturing and processing; real estate;production and distribution of electricity, gas, water, and air conditioners.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has run 150 projects in Singapore with a total value of 700 million USD, mostly in science-technology, retail andwholesale, and information and communications.

The Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs) are a symbolof economic cooperation between the two countries. Currently, there are 12VSIPs in nine provinces and cities of Vietnam. Operating VSIPs have a highoccupancy rate (over 83%), attracting 17.6 billion USD in total investmentcapital, and creating jobs for nearly 300,000 direct workers.

Expanding cooperation areas

Regarding transport cooperation, Singapore is one of themost important aviation markets of Vietnam, being the sixth largest source ofpassengers as of 2019. After a disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnamese and Singaporean airlines have resumed regular commercial flightsbetween the two countries, supporting the recovery of bilateral tourismcooperation and contributing to the post-pandemic recovery in both countries.

At the same time, the two sides have also strengthenedpartnership in finance-banking, education-training, and naturalresources-environment.

They have worked closely in COVID-19 prevention and control.Right after the outbreak of the pandemic, Singapore was one of the first ASEANmembers to provide Vietnam with medical supplies and equipment. In March 2020,Temasek Foundation of Singapore presented  the Vietnamese Ministry of Health with100 respirators, along with two testing machines and quick test kids. InSeptember 2021, Singapore provided Vietnam with medical equipment worth nearly5 million USD.

During the complicated COVID-19 period in Singapore, theNational Assembly of Vietnam supported Singapore with medical masks, whileVingroup Group presented the Singapore Government with 200 respirators manufacturedin Vietnam with US’s Medtronic technology.

Currently, about 13,000 Vietnamese people are living inSingapore, acting as bridges for the friendship between the two nations./.