(VOVworld)- Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrived in Vietnam on Wednesday for an official visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. At talks held after the welcoming ceremony, the two Prime Ministers agreed to maintain the exchanges of high-ranking visits, increase cooperation between the two Parties and legislative bodies, and support the establishment of a Friendship Association in each country to strengthen people-to people exchange. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stressed that Singapore has always been Vietnam’s top investor and trade partner with two-way trade turnover last year reaching more than 9 billion USD. Singapore now has nearly 1,200 investment projects in Vietnam with a total investment capital of more than 28 billion USD. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong promised to facilitate Singaporean businesses to invest in Vietnam, especially in fishery processing, organic plantation and genetic technology.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong before the talks (Photo: Đức Tám/TTXVN)

The two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in education, training, energy, oil and gas, agriculture, construction, transportation, labor, finance, postal and telecommunications and information technology. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said: “His Excellency Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and myself decided to upgrade the Vietnam-Singapore friendship and comprehensive cooperation to a Strategic Partnership. We strongly believe that a Vietnam-Singapore Strategic Partnership will not only create a new motivation making bilateral cooperation deeper, more effective and sustainable but also contribute to the establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015 as well as to peace, stability and development in the Asia Pacific region and the world at large”.

The two sides agreed to work with other ASEAN countries to build an ASEAN Community by 2015, strengthen solidarity and promote ASEAN’s central role in the region for peace, security and prosperity. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed that Singapore would continue to cooperate and support Vietnam in the negotiation of TPP ensuring TPP a balanced agreement which satisfies the interests of its all members, especially developing countries. The two Prime Ministers discussed the East Sea issue emphasizing the importance of solidarity and ASEAN’s active role as well as ASEAN’s common principles including the Six-Point Principles of ASEAN Foreign Ministers regarding peace, security, and maritime safety  in the East Sea, resolving disputes through peaceful means and abiding by international law including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Declaration on the Code of Conducts of Parties in the East Sea and building the Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea. The two Prime Ministers officially announced the upgrade of relations between Vietnam and Singapore from  comprehensive cooperation to Strategic Partnership. Following the talks, the two Prime Ministers witnessed the release of a stamp collection celebrating the 40^th anniversary of diplomatic ties.