National Assembly (NA) Chairman Tran Thanh Man had a meeting in Hanoi on March 26 with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
Man recalled the warm welcome extended by the Government, Parliament, and people of Singapore to him and the high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese NA during their visit to the city-state in December 2024.
He asked Wong to convey his invitation to Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore Seah Kian Peng to pay an official visit to Vietnam soon, as well as his regards to President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and other Singaporean leaders.
Wong said his visit that comes shortly after Party General Secretary To Lam’s trip to Singapore and the upgrade of bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership makes a milestone in Vietnam-Singapore ties and reflects the commitment and determination of both sides to enhance cooperation across all fields.
The PM also briefed the NA Chairman on outcomes of his talks and meetings with other Vietnamese high-ranking leaders.
Man highly valued Singapore’s role in supporting Vietnam’s market economy development and international integration, and suggested the country continue to share its experience in building a rule-of-law state, fostering a knowledge-based economy, promoting innovation and sustainable development, building an e-government, and developing green economy and digital economy.
He called on Singapore to assist the Vietnamese NA in building its legislative agenda with a focus on digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and streamlining the administrative system through digitalisation while ensuring benefits for officials.
The leader expressed his pleasure at the strong and substantive growth of Vietnam-Singapore relations over the past more than five decades, particularly in economic, trade, and investment cooperation, with bilateral trade reaching 10.3 billion USD in 2024.
Singapore remains Vietnam’s second-largest foreign investor, with cumulative investments exceeding 80 billion USD. The Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) have been seen as a model of successful cooperation, he noted.
Regarding future directions, Man affirmed that the Vietnamese NA will continue to improve the legal framework to facilitate bilateral cooperation, as well as the operation of Singaporean businesses and foreign investors, particularly in advanced technology, renewable energy, and high-value-added supporting industries.
Wong stressed that the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership serves as a crucial foundation for bilateral relations to grow stronger. He commended the role of the Vietnamese legislature in creating a favourable legal framework for socio-economic development and international cooperation.
The PM noted that Singapore attaches great importance to its relationship with Vietnam and seeks to deepen and expand the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership across all fields, including cooperation between the two legislative bodies.
Expressing his pleasure at Singapore’s growing investments in Vietnam, Wong said the two countries have significant potential for cooperation in emerging fields such as agriculture, food production, green economy, and digital economy.
He suggested upgrading and expanding the VSIP from version 1.0 to 2.0, with the possibility of selecting a few pilot sites for the upgrade. He also emphasised the need to further promote digital payments, including QR code payments.
The two leaders agreed that the two legislatures should continue to enhance the exchange of information and best practices on institutional improvement, policymaking, and legal system development.
They stressed the importance of strengthening high-level exchanges and interactions between parliamentary committees and agencies, friendship parliamentary groups, and young and female legislators.
The leaders pledged to further promote cooperation in defence and security, education and training, science and technology, tourism, labour, and people-to-people exchanges, as well as explore other areas with untapped potential for collaboration.
Regarding multilateral and regional cooperation, both sides agreed to continue consultations and mutual support at international and regional forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA)./.
