Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on April 20 received a phone call from his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong who offered his congratulations to the new Government leader of Viet Nam. 

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh

During the call, PM Lee congratulated Viet Nam on its successful organization of the 13th National Party Congress as well as the country’s effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic, socio-economic development and foreign affairs, affirming that Singapore gives high priority in relations with Viet Nam.

PM Pham thanked PM Lee for his congratulatory message and call, expressing his wish to work closely with the Singaporean leader to further strengthen the Viet Nam-Singapore strategic partnership across fields.

The two PMs rejoiced at the positive developments in bilateral cooperation regardless of the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, in 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, Singapore was the largest foreign investor in Viet Nam. The Viet Nam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) model is operating very effectively, becoming a symbol for the success in economic collaboration between the two countries.

They agreed to enhance cooperation in the two sides’ potential and strength areas, including finance, information technology, agro-fisheries, education and training, and infrastructure, as well as expanding collaboration to some other fields to meet the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution era such as clean energy, smart city, innovation, digital economy and digitization, and sharing experience in economic management and development and human resource training, especially high-quality human resources.

Regarding regional and international cooperation, PM Pham applauded the close and effective cooperation between the two countries at regional and international forums.

He thanked Singapore for having supported Viet Nam during its ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020, asking the country to continue backing Viet Nam in fulfilling its role as non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2021. 

The Vietnamese PM took the occasion to invite his Singaporean counterpart to visit Viet Nam at an appropriate time, and the latter accepted it with pleasure. PM Lee also expressed his wish to welcome PM Pham on a visit to Singapore in the near future./.