Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Deputy Director of the Export Support Centre under the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Trade Promotion Agency, noted that there are almost no import restrictions in Singapore.

The market, however, has high requirements for goods quality, she said, adding that not many Vietnamese agricultural products, food and consumer goods have been shipped to the island nation.

According to the Asia-Africa Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoT), Vietnam’s export to Singapore grew stably in 2018-2021, and Singapore remains Vietnam’s fifth biggest trade partner in ASEAN, and the 15th in the world.

The two-way trade reached 9.1 billion USD last year, up 11.6% from 2021, of which Vietnam’s export was valued at 4.3 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 9.4%, the agency said.

Among Vietnam’s export items, high-quality processed products made up 67-76%, while mineral materials accounted for 5.5-13%.

Meanwhile, the country mainly imported computers, electronics and spare parts, cosmetics, plastics, machinery and other accessories from Singapore.

The agency said Singapore that lacks natural resources would be a promising market for Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic products, garments-textiles and processed food.

For investment, as of June 2022, Singapore poured about 70 billion USD into some 3,600 projects in Vietnam, making it the second biggest investor in the country.

Joint trade and investment projects have manifested the close economic links between the two countries, notably the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) whose number amount to 12 and investment capital hits 17 billion USD, with more than 300,000 jobs created.