State 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.
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) – State 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.
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 recognise 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 emphasised 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 finalise 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 defence, 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 11 billion USD.
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./.