General Secretary, President To Lam holds talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong
WVR/VNA - On the morning of May 29, in Singapore, General Secretary, President To Lam held talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
Latest
 |
| General Secretary, President To Lam and Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. (Photo: VNA) |
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong warmly welcomed General Secretary, President To Lam, his spouse, and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation on their state visit to Singapore and participation in the Shangri-La Dialogue, following the success of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
The Singaporean Prime Minister congratulated General Secretary To Lam on being elected as State President by the 16th National Assembly of Vietnam and noted the frequent high-level exchanges between the two countries, the most recent being the meeting between Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Prime Minister Le Minh Hung during the ASEAN Summit in Cebu, Philippines.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong expressed admiration for Vietnam's recent development achievements and stated that with the upgrade of relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in March 2025, there is ample room to further deepen cooperation across various fields.
General Secretary, President To Lam sincerely thanked Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, the Government, and the people of Singapore for their warm and friendly reception; expressed his delight to return to Singapore as the head of the Party and State of Vietnam; and congratulated Singapore on maintaining positive development, being among the wealthiest and safest countries in the world today.
The General Secretary, President shared that this visit aims to further strengthen the friendship and mutual understanding, opening up significant cooperation opportunities, and adding momentum to the Vietnam-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the benefit of the people of both countries, and for peace, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
General Secretary, President To Lam affirmed that Vietnam always values and wishes to promote multifaceted friendship and cooperation with Singapore.
Discussing Vietnam's achievements and future development directions, General Secretary, President To Lam emphasized that Vietnam considers the building of a socialist rule of law state as a strategic task; is determined to successfully build a new growth model based on a knowledge economy, digital economy, and green economy, where science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation are key drivers. These are also the new areas Vietnam prioritizes for cooperation with Singapore.
 |
| General Secretary, State President To Lam holds talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. (Source: VNA) |
The General Secretary, President also affirmed that Vietnam will continue to reform its administrative apparatus, streamline, reduce intermediaries, and reform administrative procedures towards an effective, efficient, and high-performing state system like Singapore.
The two leaders reviewed the outstanding bilateral cooperation achievements in recent times, especially in the fields of economy, trade, and investment. Bilateral trade turnover reached nearly 12 billion USD in 2025; Singapore is currently the second-largest investor in Vietnam with cumulative investment capital of nearly 100 billion USD, with the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) being a successful cooperation model, expected to reach 30 VSIPs by 2026 to mark 30 years of presence in Vietnam.
Both sides also acknowledged positive progress in defense-security, education-training, science-technology, tourism, labor, and people-to-people exchanges.
Discussing future cooperation directions, the two leaders agreed to continue building political trust through maintaining high-level exchanges and regular contacts; effectively utilize bilateral cooperation mechanisms; elevate strategic cooperation to match the stature of the new relationship framework through establishing a Strategic Dialogue mechanism between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the People's Action Party of Singapore; and bring science-technology cooperation into practical implementation, appreciating the organization of the Vietnam-Singapore Technology Connection Forum, through initiatives on Vietnam-Singapore technology connection, aiming to form a strategic science-technology ecosystem between the two countries.
Both sides also agreed to further promote the Green Economy-Digital Economy Partnership, particularly in implementing clean energy connection projects, carbon credit exchange; developing the International Financial Center; and developing the new generation VSIP system associated with high-tech transfer.
Both sides also agreed to enhance cooperation in security-defense, promote cooperation in combating cybercrime, drug crime; strengthen cultural, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges; promote aviation, logistics, and seaport connectivity. Both sides agreed to continue strengthening cooperation to ensure supply chain resilience, including food security and energy security.
General Secretary, President To Lam thanked and called on Singapore to continue prioritizing Vietnam in training cadres, especially strategic-level cadres, nurturing talents for national development in the new era; supporting Vietnam in operating and managing the National Data Center and the High-Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence Center.
The Singaporean Prime Minister appreciated the more than 22,000 Vietnamese students studying in Singapore, affirming support for Vietnam in developing human resources.
The two leaders highly valued the frequent coordination and mutual support between the two countries at multilateral mechanisms, especially at ASEAN and the United Nations, agreeing to expand and deepen coordination on international issues; helping ASEAN effectively respond to challenges, achieving new developments in promoting its central role.
General Secretary To Lam affirmed that Vietnam will actively support and coordinate with Singapore to contribute responsibly to ASEAN's common work; successfully assume the rotating Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2027.
General Secretary To Lam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, security, stability, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea; peacefully resolving disputes, refraining from threatening or using force, and resolving disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law principles, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).
 |
| Overview of the talks. (Source: VNA) |
After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of cooperation documents on party channel cooperation, judiciary, supply chain recovery, and investment certificates for VSIP Hue, Nghe An 4, Ninh Binh, Hai Phong, etc.; agreed to instruct ministries and sectors to promptly and effectively implement the agreements reached, bringing Vietnam-Singapore relations to strong, profound, and substantive development, meeting the interests of the people of both countries, and contributing positively to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
General Secretary, President To Lam extended a cordial invitation to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to visit Vietnam again in the near future. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong gladly accepted the invitation.
