Top Vietnamese legislator meets with Singaporean President

At the meeting between Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Trần Thanh Mẫn (L) and Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam on December 3. VNA/VNS Photo

The Singaporean President laid stress on the significance of NA Chairman Mẫn’s visit, saying it will contribute to developing the bilateral relations in a stronger and more substantive manner. He also congratulated the Vietnamese parliament on its close collaboration with the Government in making sound decisions to help Việt Nam obtain significant achievements in socio-economic development and a high GDP growth rate.

He took this occasion to ask the NA Chairman to convey his invitation to General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee Tô Lâm to visit Singapore at a proper time.

Congratulating Singapore on maintaining positive growth and issuing rational policies to assist its citizens, particularly low-income people, the Vietnamese top legislator expressed his confidence that the city-state will successfully build a nation with dynamism and integration, equality and competitiveness, resilience and solidarity, as well as a society with inclusiveness and a multiracial spirit.

He briefed President Tharman on the outcomes of his talks with Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore Seah Kian Peng, during which they discussed and agreed on major orientations and measures to promote the cooperation between the two parliaments and the two countries as a whole across the domains of politics – diplomacy, security – defence, economy – trade, education – training, cultural exchanges, people-to-people exchanges, and connections between localities.

The NA Chairman suggested President Tharman support the effective implementation of the cooperation agreement signed between the two legislative bodies in 2022, helping to make parliamentary cooperation one of the key collaboration channels in the Việt Nam – Singapore Strategic Partnership, laying the foundation for upgrading the bilateral relations in the future.

Discussing issues in which Việt Nam has interest and Singapore has strength, the Vietnamese top legislator called on Singapore and the President personally to support and promote the implementation of the agreement on training programme for mid- and high-level officials of the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV) in Singapore in the 2024-2026 period.

He also suggested the Singaporean side increase the number of scholarships for Việt Nam, and expand training programmes for leaders and potential leaders to Vietnamese officials at all other levels.

Agreeing with NA Chairman Mẫn’s proposals, the President affirmed that Singapore will continue to support Việt Nam in improving the quality of human resources. He also suggested the two sides further promote exemplary cooperation models such as the Việt Nam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs); capitalise on cooperation opportunities in new areas such as digital transformation, the carbon credit market; strengthen energy cooperation, including electricity grid connectivity within ASEAN; speed up a cooperation project between Singapore’s Sembcorp Group and the Petrovietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC) – a subsidiary company of the Việt Nam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam); and boost cultural and tourism cooperation.

The two leaders affirmed their commitments to continue creating favourable conditions for the Việt Nam-Singapore Friendship Association, as well as the two countries' citizens live and work, thus contributing to the socio-economic development of both nations, and uphold their roles as bridges for the bilateral friendship.

They agreed to continue close coordination at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and parliamentary forums. They also emphasised ASEAN's consistent position on resolving disputes in the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea) through peaceful means, in accordance with international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, to ensure a stable and sustainable development environment in the region.