HCMC – Vietnam and Singapore have agreed to take concrete steps to strengthen their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including advancing economic and defense cooperation.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong held talks in Hanoi following an official welcome ceremony today, March 26. The meeting marked the first high-level exchange since the two countries upgraded ties during a visit to Singapore by Vietnam’s Party General Secretary To Lam.
PM Wong said the elevation of ties to a comprehensive strategic level reflects strong mutual trust and close ties. Vietnam is the first ASEAN country to establish such a partnership with Singapore, underscoring the ambition of both nations to deepen cooperation.
The two leaders pledged to finalize and implement a 2025-2030 action plan aimed at expanding political trust and bilateral collaboration.
Singapore is Vietnam’s second-largest foreign investor. Two additional Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs) have been approved, bringing the total to 20 across 14 provinces. Bilateral trade amounted to US$10.3 billion in 2024.
Vietnam has become Singapore’s largest rice supplier. The two sides also noted progress in defense, education, tourism, labor, and people-to-people exchanges.
The two prime ministers agreed to finalize and effectively implement the 2025-2030 Action Plan under the new partnership framework. They pledged to maintain high-level exchanges, enhance bilateral cooperation mechanisms—particularly the annual prime ministerial meetings—and strengthen defense and cybersecurity cooperation based on mutual trust and understanding.
PM Chinh called for greater access for Vietnamese agricultural and processed products into Singapore and proposed upgrading existing VSIPs into a new smart, sustainable model, VSIP 2.0.
PM Wong agreed to work with Vietnam to clarify the main elements needed for upgrading existing VSIPs to greener and more technologically advanced models. He also supported PM Chinh’s proposal for six priority areas of cooperation: deeper political trust, more substantive defense and security collaboration, more efficient economic connectivity, stronger people-to-people ties, breakthroughs in science, technology, and innovation, and closer coordination in regional and international forums.
The leaders discussed expanding cooperation in renewable energy, carbon credit trading, and cross-border financial technology, including retail QR code payments and data connectivity.
They reaffirmed commitment to ASEAN’s position on the East Sea, emphasizing the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight in this sea. They called for full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and supported efforts to build a substantive and effective Code of Conduct (COC) in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Following their talks, the prime ministers witnessed the signing of several cooperation documents. These included a Letter of Intent on implementing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Action Plan and agreements on offshore wind trade, cross-border QR payments, digital development and innovation, and people-to-people exchanges.
