Vietnam – Singapore: Expanding cooperation within the framework of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

(Chinhphu.vn) - Vietnam and Singapore reaffirmed their commitment to promoting comprehensive cooperation at the 19th Economic Connectivity Ministerial Meeting, focusing on investment, trade, energy, digital transformation and sustainable development.

Minister Nguyen Van Thang at the Conference - Photo: VGP

Promoting the Vietnam – Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

On the afternoon of October 10 in Hanoi, the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance coordinated with the Singaporean Ministry of Trade and Industry to organize the 19th Vietnam-Singapore Economic Connectivity Ministerial Meeting (CMM). Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang and Second Minister of Trade and Industry and Singaporean Minister of Manpower Tan See Leng co-chaired the meeting.

In his opening speech, Minister Nguyen Van Thang emphasized that the Vietnam-Singapore relationship is developing strongly, substantially and effectively in many fields, especially after the two countries officially upgraded to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during General Secretary To Lam's visit to Singapore in March 2025. This is a milestone demonstrating deep political trust, opening a period of comprehensive and extensive cooperation between the two countries.

The 19th CMM Conference is a key activity implementing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework, serving as a high-level dialogue mechanism between the two countries.

Minister Nguyen Van Thang informed that as of August 31, 2025, Singapore is the second largest foreign investor in Vietnam with 4,226 projects and a total registered capital of 87.6 billion USD. In contrast, Vietnam invested in Singapore in 190 projects with a total capital of 685 million USD.

Minister Nguyen Van Thang emphasized: This conference is an opportunity to review the implementation of achieved results, and at the same time study and propose new cooperation measures to strengthen connectivity and effectively respond to global economic challenges.

Priority areas of cooperation include: investment, agricultural trade, sustainable development, infrastructure, energy, information technology, education, innovation and finance, towards implementing a substantive, sustainable and effective Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Minister Tan See Leng speaks at the Conference - Photo: VGP

Expanding cooperation in investment, energy and innovation

Speaking at the conference, Minister Tan See Leng expressed his pleasure to meet the Vietnamese leaders again, especially in the context of the two countries celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership. Mr. Tan See Leng affirmed that the Vietnam - Singapore Ministerial Conference has become an effective cooperation mechanism over the past 18 years, promoting cooperation on 5 main pillars and 11 priority areas.

After upgrading the cooperation framework in 2023, Singapore established the "Singapore Unit" - a unit to support Singaporean businesses to expand their investment in Vietnam. Mr. Tan See Leng stated two key objectives of this meeting:

First, establish the Singapore Investment Unit (SIU) in Vietnam, which will act as a "one-stop center" to support Singaporean businesses.

Second, the announcement of the Innovation and Talent Exchange Programme (ITES) between Vietnam and Singapore, to promote high-quality human resource cooperation.

Mr. Tan See Leng affirmed that the Conference is a testament to the efforts to maintain openness and economic connectivity between the two countries, creating a foundation to promote extensive cooperation in the fields of industry, energy, innovation and other key areas.

The conference recorded contributions from representatives of many ministries, sectors and localities of the two countries, and discussed cooperation in investment, agricultural trade, construction - transportation, infrastructure and energy.

At the Conference, the Ministers also witnessed the signing ceremony of 03 cooperation agreements between the parties - Photo: VGP

In his closing remarks, Minister Nguyen Van Thang assessed the 19th Conference as successful and of historic significance, as it was the first conference after the two countries upgraded their bilateral relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Minister Nguyen Van Thang affirmed that this is a strong driving force to expand and deepen bilateral economic cooperation in the coming time.

"These results are clear evidence of the depth of Vietnam-Singapore cooperation. I call on the agencies of the two countries to continue to concretize the discussion contents into practical actions and projects," Minister Nguyen Van Thang affirmed.

Regarding investment, both sides welcomed Singapore's continued position as the second largest investor in Vietnam, and appreciated the role of the Singapore Unit and the coordination efforts between the two countries' agencies. Some notable projects mentioned include Phase 3 of Keppel's Saigon Center Project and Shopee's automated product sorting center in Hung Yen, contributing to promoting economic cooperation.

In the field of agricultural trade and sustainable development, Singapore has approved the import of heat-treated poultry from Vietnam from March 2025. The agreement to implement Article 6 of the Paris Agreement signed on September 16, 2025 is a testament to the strong commitment of the two countries to green transformation and sustainable development. The two sides also announced the Agricultural Task Force, coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment of Vietnam and the Singapore Food Agency.

In terms of energy and transport, the two sides completed the Joint Report on Offshore Wind Power Trade Cooperation and reaffirmed the importance of the Vietnam-Singapore submarine cable, which is considered the "backbone" of Singapore's low-carbon energy import strategy. Vietnam proposed to expand the bilateral Air Services Agreement (ASA) to include the fifth freedom for goods, facilitating the development of aviation logistics and tourism.

In the field of digitalization and innovation, the two sides noted positive progress in the Innovation Talent Exchange Program (ITX), opening up opportunities for sharing high-quality human resources and transferring knowledge.

In addition, the Conference also mentioned cooperation in tourism, information technology, education, human resource training and finance, contributing to strengthening the partnership to become increasingly comprehensive, strong and substantive.

According to the rotation mechanism, the 20th CMM Conference will be chaired by Singapore. At the Conference, the two sides witnessed the Ceremony of handing over 3 Cooperation Agreements including: Ho Chi Minh City granted the amended Investment Certificate to Keppel at Saigon Center Phase 3; Grab and Da Nang City launched the Digital Transformation Action Plan; YCH Group and Phu Tho Province announced the Off-Airport Cargo Terminal at YCH SuperPort Vietnam.

Mr. Minh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/viet-nam-singapore-mo-rong-hop-tac-trong-khuon-kho-doi-tac-chien-luoc-toan-dien-102251010202430974.htm