SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be on an official visit to Vietnam from Sunday at the invitation of his counterpart, Mr Pham Minh Chinh.
The three-day trip comes as Singapore this year marks 50 years of bilateral relations and 10 years of strategic partnership with its fellow South-east Asian country.
It will be PM Lee’s first visit to Vietnam since 2018, when he was in Hanoi for the World Economic Forum on Asean.
His trip reciprocates Mr Chinh’s official visit to Singapore in February, said the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday. Both leaders also met at the Asean Summit in May in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia.
During his visit, PM Lee will meet Mr Chinh and Communist Party of Vietnam general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, and call on President Vo Van Thuong. He will also meet National Assembly chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.
PM Lee will be hosted to an official dinner by Mr Chinh.
Both of them will attend an event on Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs), where they will witness a virtual ground-breaking ceremony of several parks and the presentation of investment licences for new ones.
There are currently 13 VSIPs across north, central and south Vietnam that have been awarded investment licences by the country. They have attracted more than US$18.4 billion (S$25 billion) in investments and created about 300,000 jobs, with a growing focus on technologies to manage energy, water, waste, traffic and security.
Singapore is Vietnam’s second-largest investor, with about US$70.8 billion of inflows into the country as at December. Bilateral trade reached $31.3 billion in 2022.
During his visit, PM Lee will meet students from the Vietnam National University with Mr Chinh.
The prime ministers will also engage participants from the inaugural Singapore-Vietnam Youth Leaders Exchange programme.
Thirty Singapore and Vietnamese youth leaders, aged between 18 and 35, will participate in learning journeys, institutional visits, discussions on youth and social issues, and dialogues with public sector leaders under the annual programme.
PM Lee will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing and Manpower Minister and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng.
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will be acting prime minister in PM Lee’s absence.
