Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s official visit to Singapore from September 12-14 aims to promote relations between the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) and lift the relationship between the two countries to a higher level.

Mr Trong’s visit is being made at the invitation of Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is also Secretary General of the PAP.

This is the second trip the General Secretary of the CPV has made since the then Party General Secretary Do Muoi visited in 1993.

Vietnam and Singapore first established diplomatic ties on August 1, 1973. Vietnam opened its embassy in Singapore in December 1991 with the Singaporean Embassy arriving in Hanoi in September 1992.

Ever since Vietnam signed the Bali Treaty in July 1992 and became a full member of ASEAN in July 1995, bilateral ties have entered a new development period. Singapore has attached a great deal of importance to developing cooperative relations with Vietnam.

Vietnam has also become one of Singapore’s major Southeast Asian markets for trade and investment cooperation.

Both countries have regularly exchanged senior-level delegations and President Truong Tan Sang visited Singapore in September 2011. Singaporean President Tony Tan Keng Yam visited Vietnam in April 2012.

In 2004, both countries signed a joint statement on a comprehensive cooperation framework for the 21st century as well as a connectivity framework agreement in 2005.

Between 1996 and now, Singapore has been always one of Vietnam’s biggest trading partners and two-way trade rose from US$3.31 billion in 1998 to more than US$12 billion ten years later. However in 2011 it only reached US$8.7 billion due to the global economic downturn.

Vietnam imports petrol, plastics, metals, electronic products, machinery and chemicals from Singapore and exports seafood, coffee, crude oil, precious stones and electronic appliances.

Singapore’s direct investment in Vietnam has constantly increased in recent years and it is now the fifth biggest foreign investor in the country. By April 2012, Singaporean companies had run 1,020 projects in the country worth almost US$23 billion and Vietnam now operates 41 projects in Singapore costing over US$614 million.

Singaporean projects mainly focus on the processing and manufacturing industries, infrastructure, entertainment, services and real estate. The Vietnamese-Singaporean Industrial Park is seen as a symbol of success by the Singaporean invested projects in Vietnam.

Both countries now work together in defence, after exchanging several ministerial and senior level visits as well as through bilateral cooperation mechanisms. In addition, Vietnam and Singapore have also boosted legal and judicial cooperation.

Working together in culture and tourism has also proved beneficial as Singapore is an important tourist market for Vietnam.

Vietnam and Singapore also signed a memorandum of understanding on educational cooperation in April 2007 and established the Vietnam-Singapore Training Centre in Hanoi in 2001. Universities from both countries have carried out a number of joints projects and cooperation programmes and they also regularly exchange lecturers.

Singapore has granted 150-200 scholarships to talented Vietnamese school leavers annually since 2,000 and so far around 9,000 Vietnamese students have studied in Singapore.

Both countries have signed many cooperation agreements on maritime affairs, trade, aviation, investment, environmental management and protection, tourism, culture and information and top quality human resources training.

Since officially establishing relations in October 1993, the CPV and PAP have maintained a fine rapport and continued to exchange delegations, experiences in Party building and management, national developments and the training of cadres.

Party General Secretary Trong’s visit to Singapore underlines Vietnam’s international integration and its policy of prioritising its relationship with other regional countries.

It also shows that Vietnam is a responsible member of ASEAN who is eager to join Singapore and other ASEAN member countries to reinforce solidarity and build a strong ASEAN Community.

(VNA/VOV online)