Vietnam, Singapore seek to step up trade cooperation

At the working session (Photo: moit.gov.vn)

Singapore - Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien had a working session with Singaporean Minister for Manpower, and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng, on the occasion of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s State visit to Singapore from February 24 - 26.

During the meeting, the two ministers noted with pleasure the strong and comprehensive development of the Vietnam - Singapore relations, especially in economic and trade cooperation.

The two-way trade between Vietnam and Singapore hit 8.3 billion USD last year, up 23 percent compared to 2020. Singapore is now the 5th biggest trading partner of Vietnam and the third largest foreign direct investor in the country.

The ministers spoke highly of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on economic and trade cooperation between their ministries on the occasion of President Phuc's visit, and agreed to quickly establish specialised working groups in each field to effectively implement this document.

They also discussed measures to further expand cooperation in developing digital economy; optimise free trade agreements (FTAs) in which the two countries are members, focusing on encouraging investment in electronics, telecommunications, furniture, and agro-fishery processing, to boost exports to member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The two sides also underlined the necessity to take advantage of the fact that Vietnam and Singapore are the only two regional countries joining comprehensive agreements with the European Union (EU) and the UK, to support each other in making inroads into these markets; and jointly work towards realising the goal of energy transition and carbon neutrality.