Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son paid working visits to Singapore and India from June 21-22 to augment connections with the two nations.

During the visit to Singapore, Son met with Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohamad Bin Osman, where both sides hailed strong development of the strategic partnership, noting that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s official visit to the country in April helped consolidate mutual trust and add fresh impetus to the bilateral ties.

They consented to bolster coordination in activities marking the 45th anniversary of the diplomatic relations, increase security and defence cooperation as well as cooperation in regional issues and at multilateral forums.

The officials underlined the need to fast-track the ASEAN Community building in 2018 when Singapore takes on the ASEAN chairmanship, and to promote cooperation in economics, trade, investment, tourism, science-technology, and education-training.

They will work to incentivize Singaporean businesses to pour investment into industry, renewable energy, smart city, digital economy, and startup in Vietnam. 

In India, Son met with his Indian hosts, including Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu, Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kuma Singh, and Deputy National Security Advisor Rajilder Khanna,. They held that the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations is built on the traditional friendship and mutual trust.

Both sides reached a consensus on translating agreements reached during the visits of President Tran Dai Quang and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the Southern Asian nation earlier this year.

They concurred to solidify collaboration in defence and security and offer mutual support for regional and international matters as well as at multilateral forums like the UN, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and ASEAN-India dialogue.

They agreed to double their efforts to elevate two-way trade to US$15 billion by 2020, adding that Indian businesses are encouraged to expand cooperation with Vietnam in the areas of energy, infrastructure, education, and information and technology.

VOV