Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh paid his first official visit to Singapore and Brunei.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, his wife and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation will pay an official visit to Singapore and Brunei from February 8 to 11.
At the invitation of Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Brunei Darussalam Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation will pay official visits to Singapore and Brunei Darussalam from February 8 to 11.
 |
| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife, along with a high-ranking delegation from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, will pay an official visit to the Republic of Singapore and Brunei Darussalam. |
The official visit to Singapore and Brunei by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is of great significance. This is the first visit of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to the two countries in his new position, aiming to continue implementing the consistent foreign policy set forth by the 13th National Party Congress, which is to prioritize developing relations with neighboring countries and ASEAN.
Notably, this is also the first official visit by the head of the Vietnamese Government to Singapore after nearly 5 years and to Brunei after nearly 16 years.
The visit will help create a strong impetus to further deepen the Strategic Partnership with Singapore, one of Vietnam's leading economic partners, and the Comprehensive Partnership with Brunei, a potential economic partner and the place that witnessed Vietnam becoming the 7th member of ASEAN in July 1995. For Singapore, the visit is the opening event for the year when the two countries celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of establishing the Strategic Partnership.
Vietnam's relations with Singapore and Brunei are based on many common points, including politics, economics, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. Vietnam and the two countries share the desire to build a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Southeast Asia. Therefore, the Prime Minister's visit this time also carries a message of close neighbors, complementing each other, working together to develop a cohesive ASEAN, a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Southeast Asia.
In particular, in terms of investment and trade, Singapore is Vietnam's leading economic partner in the region. Total trade turnover in 2022 is expected to reach about 9 billion USD, up 10.1% compared to 2021 (in 2021 it reached 8.3 billion USD). Singapore maintains its leading position in ASEAN and ranks 2nd out of 141 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 3,032 valid projects with a total registered capital of 70.39 billion USD. Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs) are a symbol of economic cooperation between the two countries with 12 VSIPs in 9 provinces and cities in Vietnam with a high occupancy rate (about 83.2%), attracting 17.6 billion USD in total investment capital for about 900 projects, creating nearly 300,000 jobs.
For Brunei, investment and trade between the two countries have completed the two-way trade turnover target of over 500 million USD ahead of schedule in 2025. By October 2022, bilateral trade turnover reached 638.5 million USD, an increase of 141.4% over the same period in 2021. Brunei ranked 26th out of 141 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 971 million USD, focusing on processing, manufacturing, construction and real estate industries.
During this visit, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and senior leaders of Singapore and Brunei are expected to discuss and agree on many directions and measures, including new and breakthrough measures to further deepen cooperation in various fields, especially in economic cooperation, trade, investment, security, defense, education - training, science - technology and expand cooperation in new areas such as innovation, digital economy, green economy, sustainable development and clean energy...
Vietnamese ministries, sectors, localities and enterprises will also sign important cooperation documents with Singaporean and Bruneian partners on this occasion, in which the highlight is the Government-level Memorandum of Understanding on establishing the Vietnam-Singapore Digital Economy - Green Economy Partnership and the Action Plan to implement the Vietnam-Brunei Comprehensive Partnership for the period 2023-2027. Ministries, sectors and localities will also have many specialized cooperation activities on the occasion of this visit, especially in education - training, security - defense, urban infrastructure development, maritime, seaports, etc.
Many trade and investment promotion activities will be held with the participation of leading corporations of the two countries and internationally. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will chair a business forum, meet and work with leaders of many large corporations and enterprises, including discussions with large investment funds, banks and financial institutions of Singapore and internationally to seek investment opportunities in the fields of environment, society and corporate governance and discussions with some of Brunei's leading energy enterprises.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will also discuss with leaders of the two countries on international and regional issues of mutual concern, contributing to peace, security, stability and development in the region and the world.
The official visit to Singapore and Brunei by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation contributes to further promoting the Vietnam-Singapore Strategic Partnership and the Vietnam-Brunei Comprehensive Partnership, while contributing to consolidating ASEAN solidarity; for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world./.