Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc held phone talks with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Long on March 10 to discuss bilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc holds phone talks with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Long (Photo: VNA)- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc held phone talks with
his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Long on March 10 to discuss bilateral
cooperation as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern.
PM
Lee congratulated Vietnam on the successes of the 13th National Congress of the
Communist Party of Vietnam and PM Phuc’s re-election to the Politburo.
He
also congratulated Vietnam’s achievements in containing the COVID-19 pandemic
while making progress in socio-economic development, as well as the
country’s fulfilment of its role as Chair of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2020, which included the signing of the Regional
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, opening up new opportunities for
trade and investment liberalisation in the entire region.
PM
Lee reaffirmed that Singapore cherishes its strategic partnership with Vietnam,
especially against the backdrops of complicated regional and international
developments.
PM
Phuc, for his part, also noted how Singapore has been regarded as a “bright
spot” in the region with regards to containing the pandemic, and praised
Singapore’s economic recovery initiatives including the setting up of “air
travel bubble” and Connect@Changi, aiming at facilitating travel and
reopening the borders.
He
suggested the two sides cooperate in containing COVID-19 outbreaks and getting
access to safe sources of COVID-19 vaccines; create favourable conditions for
businesses and investors to restore production, trade and investment;
effectively utilise the bilateral relations within the framework of the
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
and RCEP to promote trade and minimise disputes.
The
two leaders held that the bilateral Strategic Partnership is growing
effectively and substantially; affirmed to strengthen cooperation in fields in
which both countries have potential such as agriculture, fisheries, finance,
information technology, education and training, infrastructure, as well
as other sectors aiming at meeting the requirements of the Fourth Industrial
Revolution-era such as clean energy development, smart cities and smart urban
solutions, innovation, digital economy and digitalisation.
Vietnam
and Singapore should also step up the sharing of experience in economic
management and development and human resources training, especially
high-quality human resources, the said.
The
two prime ministers also discussed a number of regional and international
issues of mutual concern.
Regarding
the East Sea, the two leaders affirmed the importance of strengthening
cooperation, maintenance of peace and security, and peaceful resolution of
disputes on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), moving towards an effective and
practical Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea./.