President Halimah Yacob to meet Vietnam leaders during state visit

HANOI - President Halimah Yacob will make a state visit to Vietnam from Sunday at the invitation of her counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Madam Halimah will first visit Hanoi, where she will call on President Phuc, who will also host a state banquet for her.

"This visit reaffirms Singapore and Vietnam's warm and longstanding relations, underpinned by mutual commitment to further step up bilateral cooperation," said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Saturday.

In Hanoi, Madam Halimah will also meet Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, National Assembly chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, and Hanoi Party Committee Secretary Dinh Tien Dung.

President Halimah will also visit the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) in Bac Ninh province. There are 11 VSIPs across Vietnam today, which have attracted US$17 billion (S$24.2 billion) in investments and created more than 300,000 jobs.

Madam Halimah will then travel to Ho Chi Minh City where she will meet its party committee secretary Nguyen Van Nen, who will host a dinner for her.

President Halimah will deliver opening remarks at the Singapore-Vietnam Business Roundtable organised by the Singapore Business Federation, and meet businesses based in Vietnam to hear their perspectives on the country's economic development and Singapore's economic interest there.

She will also attend a reception hosted for overseas Singaporeans based in Ho Chi Minh City.

She will be accompanied by her husband, Mr Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee; Manpower Minister and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng; Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and National Development Sim Ann; and MPs Liang Eng Hwa, Cheryl Chan and Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, as well as representatives from Enterprise Singapore and the Institute of Technical Education, and officials from the President’s Office, MFA and the Trade and Industry Ministry.

Mr Eddie Teo, chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisers, will exercise the function of the Office of the President while Madam Halimah is away.

Madam Halimah's five-day visit reciprocates President Phuc's state visit to Singapore in February, and is her first state visit to Vietnam as President.

It comes after Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat made a five-day visit to Vietnam in September when he met Prime Minister Chinh and other office-holders.

They reaffirmed the bilateral commitment towards deepening cooperation, especially in new areas of growth such as the digital economy, green economy and innovation.