Vietnam forms working group to boost ties with Singapore in green, digital economies

The Vietnamese government has established an interdisciplinary working group to carry out the Green-Digital Economic Partnership with Singapore.

The Green-Digital Economic Partnership was among four agreements signed during Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit to Singapore in February.

The Vietnamese side’s working group for the partnership, under a decision signed by Chinh on Wednesday, is led by Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment.

The team leader is assisted by deputy heads who are deputy ministers of planning and investment; industry and trade; natural resources and environment; and information and communications.

Under them are representatives of deputy minister level from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Ministry of Transport; Ministry of Education and Training; Ministry of Finance; and State Bank of Vietnam.

The working group is tasked with proposing to the Prime Minister directions and solutions to solve important issues related to the implementation of the Green-Digital Economic Partnership between the two countries.

They will also assist the PM in directing and coordinating ministries, ministerial-level agencies and other government agencies in solving issues in this process.

Vietnam and Singapore are marking 50 years of bilateral relations and a decade of strategic partnership in 2023.

On July 7 in Hanoi, business, government and educational bodies of the two countries signed 12 MoUs at the seventh Singapore Regional Business Forum. This was the first time this forum was held outside Singapore.

Trade associations and business chambers, and higher education and financial institutions were among those inking the MoUs, which aim at boosting cooperation between the countries in such areas as sustainability, digitalization, financial services, and human capital development.

Vietnamese Deputy PM Le Minh Khai and Singaporean Minister for Manpower & Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng attended the forum.

Khai urged businesses of both countries to strengthen cooperation and utilize each other's advantages in innovation and implementation of investments.

Tan also identified innovation, energy connectivity and sustainability as three areas in which Singapore and Vietnam can work together to seize opportunities of the next decade and further deepen bilateral cooperation.