Vietnam-Singapore industrial parks’ success due to Hanoi’s efforts: PM Wong

HANOI - The success of the Vietnam-Singapore industrial parks (VSIPs) is very much the result of Vietnam’s tremendous efforts to reform its economy, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on March 26.

“We think there’s scope to do more, upgrade the VSIPs, and then maybe even consider projects in third countries,” he said in an interview with Singapore media at the end of his two-day visit.

Since the establishment of the first VSIP in 1996, there are now 20 VSIPs across the country that pull in over US$23 billion (S$30.8 billion) in investments and support more than 320,000 jobs.

“Vietnam... has made tremendous efforts since the start of its reform process to open up, to attract investments, and it’s continuing to do so with great determination because it’s at a stage where it doesn’t want to fall into the middle-income trap,” said PM Wong.

“Vietnam sees potential for the next few years, and it hopes to achieve 8 per cent growth this year. It hopes to get double-digit growth in the coming years in order to achieve its goals of becoming an upper middle-income country by its 100th anniversary,” he added.

“It has a will to want to get there, and to the extent that it continues its reform efforts to attract investments, to stay competitive, whatever we do with them in the VSIP 2.0 projects will be helpful.”

Asked if there were any learning points from establishing, operating and scaling up the VSIPs, and if they could be replicated at other or future industrial parks elsewhere, PM Wong said a key consideration is who Singapore partners with, and if a country is able to provide a conducive environment, stability and predictability to attract investments.

He said: “That will be a big plus, because we can’t control that element. That’s up to the host country and the host government, but to the extent that they are able to do so, then we can come in to complement their efforts… and the industrial parks that we work together on, very often on a commercial basis, can really make a difference in jump-starting their industrialisation, in helping get them get up to international standards, and allowing them to attract multinational companies.”

On March 26, PM Wong laid wreaths at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Monument to War Heroes and Martyrs, before meetings with Vietnam’s key leaders.

He met Communist Party of Vietnam general secretary To Lam, the country’s top leader, at the party’s headquarters, where they exchanged views on global and regional issues of mutual concern.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the two leaders welcomed the steady tempo of high-level visits between Singapore and Vietnam, with Mr Lam’s visit to Singapore and PM Wong’s visit to Vietnam taking place in the same month. Both leaders also agreed to deepen party-to-party relations.

PM Wong also met Vietnamese President Luong Cuong, and they reaffirmed the warm and longstanding ties between the two countries and discussed ways to implement the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) and strengthen cooperation in areas such as the green and digital economies.

“They also reaffirmed our shared commitment to Asean and upholding international norms,” added the statement.

PM Wong also met chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man, and they reaffirmed the strong bilateral relations and agreed to strengthen inter-parliamentary exchanges between Singapore and Vietnam.

PM Wong told reporters that during the visit, he had good discussions with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, which enabled them to flesh out some of the ideas in the CSP, and put in place a plan of action to track progress and solidify ideas, such as doing more with the VSIPs and strengthening cooperation on food.

“Vietnam is a major agricultural producer. We import almost everything we eat, and we continue to want to diversify our sources of imports, so strengthening our food cooperation with Vietnam is a win-win project that we are working on,” he said.

“It’s not just doing more of the same, but it’s exploring ideas to take our relationship to greater heights.”