At a dinner he hosted for his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who has been on a three-day official visit to Singapore ahead of the 32nd ASEAN Summit, PM Lee said he was very impressed with the cities’ rapid urban development, adding that their inclusion in the smart cities network will add to ASEAN's vibrancy.

The smart cities network, which aims to better connect digital infrastructure and services like e-payments across the region, is Singapore's flagship initiative as the chair of ASEAN this year.

Singapore is keen to strengthen ASEAN's resilience and innovation by developing e-commerce regulation and technology infrastructure, and boosting cyber security in the region. ASEAN's digital economy is forecast to hit 200 billion USD by 2025, according to a report by Temasek and Google last year.

The proposal on the smart cities network is scheduled to be approved by ASEAN leaders at the 32nd ASEAN Summit on April 28 and will be launched within the framework of the next ASEAN Summit hosted by Singapore in November.

ASEAN now groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.-VNA