(VOVWORLD) - Vietnam and Singapore have renewed their determination to bring bilateral ties to a new height with economic cooperation serving as an important pillar.
 Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) meets his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong on the sidelines of the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, Laos, on October 9, 2024. |
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong made the pledge during talks within the framework of the annual meeting of the two government leaders, which took place on the sidelines of the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, Laos, on Wednesday.
They agreed to effectively implement the Framework Agreement on connecting the two economies and the Vietnam-Singapore green economy and digital economy partnership, especially telecommunications infrastructure connectivity. The two leaders emphasized the need to further strengthen cooperation in other important fields, such as defense - security, education - training, culture and people-to-people exchanges.
PM Chinh pledged favorable conditions for Singapore’s businesses to expand investment in Vietnam with priority given to high technology, the digital economy, circular economy, innovation, semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI).
He called on Singapore to help Vietnam build a national innovation centre for data science, saying the two sides should collaborate in food production, supply chain logistics, and aquaculture, aiming to become a regional food supply hub.
As Vietnam was Singapore’s largest rice supplier in the first half of this year, PM Wong expressed his hope for stronger bilateral cooperation in agriculture and food security, saying Singapore is ready to import fruits, food, and seafood from Vietnam.
The Singaporean leader promised to help Vietnam improve the quality of its workforce, especially at the strategic level, maintain scholarships at various levels, and effectively implement the Memorandum of Understanding on the Innovation Talent Exchange Program between the two countries.
The two leaders agreed to strengthen ASEAN’s solidarity and pay due attention to the sustainable development of sub-regions. They reaffirmed their determination to turn the East Sea into a sea of peace, cooperation, and development, and to work with other ASEAN countries to accelerate negotiations on a practical and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).