Vietnamese President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and his spouse will be leading a high-ranking delegation of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam to visit Singapore from February 24-26, 2022, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Singapore Halimah Yacob.

The Việt Nam – Singapore Strategic Partnership has grown positively over the years.

Even in the context of COVID-19, the two sides still maintained the exchange of delegations, letters, congratulations and visits, as well as high-level contacts; and expanded cooperation at Party, Government, State and National Assembly levels.

So far, Việt Nam and Singapore have restored regular commercial flights with the frequency set at 14 flights a week for each site.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the total trade value between the two countries still reached US$8.3 billion in 2021, an increase of 23.3 per cent compared to 2020. In January 2022, total imports and exports reached $783.9 million, up 6.8 per cent over the same period in 2021.

Regarding investment, as of February 2022, Singapore has 2,860 valid projects in Việt Nam, with a total registered capital of $66 billion, making it the largest ASEAN investor of Việt Nam, and ranked second out of 140 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam. Singapore's average investment scale of a project is over $23 million, nearly double the average investment of $11.9 million.

Notably, in 2021, Singapore took the lead with a total investment of over $10.7 billion, accounting for 34.4 per cent of total investment capital in Việt Nam.

Bilveer Singh, an international relations specialist from the National University of Singapore, told Vietnam News Agency that politically, Việt Nam and Singapore are ‘best friends’ in ASEAN, while economically, the two countries are major partners in foreign investment and bilateral trade.

In terms of strategic relations, Việt Nam and Singapore have signed the Defence Cooperation Agreement, and at a broader multilateral level, have cooperated on counter-terrorism and been parties to the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) and the ASEAN Defense Ministers Plus (ADMM+) framework.

Professor Singh affirmed that the relationship between the two countries was ripe for an upgrade.

The mutual understanding and harmony in relations were promoting the two countries’ ties and President Phúc’s visit would reaffirm this fact amid growing political turmoil on a global scale, Singh said, adding that he hoped in turn, Singapore leaders would soon pay a visit to Việt Nam in reciprocation. — VNS