President Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrived at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on late February 26, wrapping up a State visit to Singapore at the invitation of his counterpart Halimah Yacob.
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| Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan (right) sees off President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (centre) and his spouse (left) at Changi International Airport on February 26__Photo: VNA |
During the three-day trip, President Phuc had a meeting with and attended a State-level banquet hosted by President Yacob. He also held talks and met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Speaker of the Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin.
The two Presidents affirmed that their countries will further intensify bilateral political and economic relations by maintaining frequent high-level meetings and consolidating the existing cooperation mechanisms.
Vietnam and Singapore agreed to recognize each other’s COVID-19 vaccination certificates, create conditions for safely resuming regular commercial flights, and step up cooperation in economy, including digital economy, and trade.
The Presidents also emphasized the importance of enhancing and elevating the countries’ strategic partnership, along with the significance of environmental protection, climate change combat, and sustainable development.
They reaffirmed ASEAN’s consistent stance on the East Sea issue and the importance of maintaining peace, security, stability, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters. Both underlined the importance of the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and of negotiations to finalize a substantive and effective Code of Conduct (COC) that matches international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
President Phuc also participated in a Vietnam - Singapore business dialogue and received executives of many leading enterprises of the city state so as to promote trade and call for more investment into Vietnam.
He and PM Lee witnessed the exchange of five cooperation documents on defense, economy - trade, information and communications, and intellectual property, which are critical to both countries’ efforts to boost post-pandemic economic recovery.
During the visit, localities and businesses of Vietnam signed and exchanged 29 contracts and cooperation documents with Singaporean partners, with the investment committed into Vietnam totaling USD 11 billion.
The visit’s success is believed to have helped strengthen the political trust and strategic partnership between the two countries and lift bilateral ties to a new level.-(VNA/VLLF)
