Vietnam, Singapore to strengthen digital, green partnership

The official visit to Singapore by Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is expected to open up important orientations to elevate the two countries' strategic partnership, especially in digital technology and green transition.

The visit, from February 8-10, is the first visit of Chinh to Singapore as Prime Minister, and also the first official visit of a Vietnamese government head to Singapore in nearly five years. This year, Vietnam and Singapore will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of their Strategic Partnership.

"Even as we strengthen cooperation in traditional areas like trade and investment, there remain many opportunities to work together in new growth areas like the digital economy, renewable energy, carbon credits, green financing, cybersecurity, and sustainable infrastructure," Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in an interview ahead of the event.

"First, we need to accelerate our cooperation in the digital economy. This is a priority for both Singapore and Vietnam, and encompasses many new areas like cybersecurity, cross-border data flow, smart cities, innovation, artificial intelligence, and digital payments.

"Second, sustainable development. Like Covid-19, climate change is a global issue that can only be tackled through the collective effort of governments and people worldwide. Singapore is keen to work with Vietnam in renewable energy, carbon credits, and sustainable infrastructure with the ambitious goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050," the minister said.

It is expected that during this visit, the two countries can sign an agreement on digital and green partnership, according to Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Mai Phuoc Dung.

Associate Professor Vu Minh Khuong from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy commented that the cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore is the core and of great importance to turning Southeast Asia into a strong, prosperous economy in the next three decades.

Vietnam would be an important partner of Singapore in digital transformation and green transition as the country boasts substantial potential for cooperation at different levels, he said, adding PM Chinh’s visit would serve as a start of a level where the two sides exchange experience and strategies on green economy and digital economy.

"Vietnam and Singapore hold huge and special cooperation potential as they share common strategic perceptions, political stability and aspirations to become development models in Asia," he told VNA.

He noted that Vietnam could learn from Singapore’s experience in public apparatus consolidation, state-owned business management and urban transport development.

According to Prof. Bilveer Singh from the Department of Political Science at the National University of Singapore described Vietnam and Singapore as pillars of ASEAN over the last 10-15 years, saying the development of their ties within the bloc was crucial.

In 2021, the trade turnover between Vietnam and Singapore reached $8.3 billion and the figure for 2022 was about $9 billion.

Singapore is the largest ASEAN investor in Vietnam. The island state ranked second out of 141 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with 3,095 projects and total registered capital of $70.8 billion in 2022. The Vietnamese community in Singapore is about 10,000 people.

The 12 Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks across Vietnam's northern, central and southern regions have attracted $17 billion in investments from their tenants and created over 300,000 jobs.

In Vietnam, Singaporean companies has prominents investments in areas like real estate, logistics, education, healthcare, and trade.