Vietnam and Singapore to lift ties to comprehensive strategic partnership

To this end, the two sides agreed to further increase visit exchanges at all levels, hold an annual meeting between the two Prime Ministers, and effectively implement high-level agreements and cooperation mechanisms between the two countries.

They emphasized the need to effectively implement the Green Economy - Digital Economy Partnership established in February 2023 and the revised Vietnam-Singapore economic connectivity agreement, contributing to expanding and deepening economic connectivity into new fields such as clean energy and energy transformation and innovation.

PM Chinh proposed that Singapore increase the import of Vietnamese products; develop and convert traditional Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs) into smart, green, low-carbon industrial parks towards the development of an urban-industrial ecosystem; and increase investment in Vietnam’s key and priority areas such as electronics, smart manufacturing, information technology, digital technology, and new materials.

He also proposed that Singapore support Vietnam in developing supporting industries for manufacturing industries such as textiles, furniture processing, shipbuilding, industrial infrastructure development, chemicals, petrochemicals, and liquefied natural gas, among others.

The two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in defense and security, by promoting the signing and effective implementation of relevant cooperation agreements, while bringing into full play the effectiveness of dialogue mechanisms and working closely at multilateral forums.

They highly appreciated the two countries’ exchanges and cooperation in the field of digital transformation, including building a national data center. In line with this, PM Chinh suggested that Singapore help Vietnam build and operate a big database center to improve its effectiveness in the fight against crime, especially hi-tech crime, and to connect Vietnam’s system with Singapore’s electronic identification system to further facilitate their citizens’ activities in their territories.

The two sides agreed to ramp up bilateral cooperation in other key areas, including education-training, finance – banking, tourism, aviation, culture and people-to-people-exchanges.

After the talks, the two PMs witnessed the signing of seven cooperation documents between the two countries’ ministries and agencies.