Hanoi wishes to liaison with Singapore in urban planning and management, greening, smart-city construction and personnel training, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said when meeting Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Hanoi on March 24. 

Secretary of the Da Nang municipal Party Committee Nguyen Xuan Anh (L) and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

Briefing the guest of the capital city’s socio-economic development, Chung said the municipal authorities are looking towards developing Hanoi into a smart city with a system of modern infrastructure, e-government and technological advances. 

The city also wants to cooperate with Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy to enroll local officials for training courses on administrative management, he added. 

Lee, for his part, expressed his delight at the growing ties between Singapore and Vietnam, and between Singapore and Hanoi in particular, thereby enhancing economic and trade ties. 

The guest lauded the results of bilateral cooperation projects underway in Hanoi and asked the municipal authorities to continue providing support for Singaporean investors in Vietnam.

He assured the host that Singapore wants to partner with Hanoi to build hi-tech and software industrial parks, as well as develop smart city model.   

Singapore is currently the top investor in Hanoi with 280 projects worth 5.33 billion USD as of March 20, 2017. Up to 28 projects registered by entities and individuals in the city have also been licensed by Singapore with a total registered capital of nearly 42.7 million USD. 

Meeting Secretary of the Da Nang municipal Party Committee Nguyen Xuan Anh in Hanoi the same day, Lee said he is looking forward to attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) High-level Week slated for this November in Da Nang. 

He added that direct flights between Singapore and Da Nang have facilitated tourism and two-way trade over the past years. 

Lee underscored the importance of the municipal authorities’ strong support for the software park project by Singapore’s Sembcorp, which has been approved, saying that it is a crucial factor for its success, given the past example of the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) currently available in seven Vietnamese localities. 

According to him, Vietnam has many information technology talents so that an ecological system to nurture them is needed. 

Anh, in reply, said Da Nang lies in the hub of the central region and shares similarities with Singapore in land coverage, sea climate and orientations to common development. 

More than 20 Singaporean projects worth in excess of 230 million USD are underway in the city, he said. 

The city’s leader hoped that education will be a priority field in ties between Da Nang and Singapore, and believed that the Singaporean leader will witness progresses of Da Nang – one of the country’s most vibrant cities, during his stay this November. 

Singapore’s Prime Minister wraps up Vietnam visit

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his spouse left Hanoi on March 24 afternoon, wrapping up his official visit to Vietnam from March 21 at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (L) meets with Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc

During his four-day visit, the Singaporean PM held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, during which the two sides witnessed the signing of several cooperation documents, including the hand-over of an approval letter of the State Bank of Vietnam to Singapore’s United Overseas Bank on establishing a branch in Vietnam; and Memoranda of Understanding on developing a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project on gas turbines at Dung Quat 2; on developing a software park in Da Nang, and on the building of a Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park in Quang Tri, among others.

During separate meetings between PM Lee Hsien Loong and Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, State President Tran Dai Quang, and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, the two sides highly valued the growing bilateral relations thanks to regular high-level delegation exchanges.

Both nations agreed to consider legislative collaboration a key pillar in the bilateral strategic partnership and called on the competent agencies to enhance coordination in providing technical assistance and verifying criteria for farm produce, seafood and foodstuff.

Singapore pledged to continue supporting Vietnam to increase capacity and facilitate foreign direct investment and trade between Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.

The two sides stressed the need to further collaboration in urban city development and modernisation through the application of information-technology and telecommunication in urban management, transport, and environment, while tightening ties between Singapore and Vietnam’s major cities.

PM Lee Hsien Loong recognised Vietnam’s proposal on supporting waste treatment and environmental protection at coastal tourism areas, and signing a MoU on labour cooperation, foreign languages training, and sharpening skills for Vietnamese workers.

The two countries hoped to boost cooperation in aviation and within the framework of ASEAN.

They reiterated their commitments to strengthening defence partnership via high-level visits and bilateral activities to cement the bilateral friendship and mutual trust, especially at ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) and ADMM , as well as continue joining hands to address common security challenges such as marine security, piracy, terrorism and cross-border crime.

The two sides vowed to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and soon complete the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

While stay in Vietnam, PM Lee Hsien Loong and his spouse had a working session with authorities from Ho Chi Minh City, met with Singaporean businesses in the city, and attended a ceremony to launch the Mapletree business centre - a leading Singaporean investor in the Vietnam’s southern economic hub.

On the occasion, Vietnam’s Omega Books along with the Singaporean Embassy in Vietnam and the Vietnam Intellectual Cooperation Centre jointly launched a book “The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew”.

VNA