Deepening friendly relations between Vietnam and Brunei and Singapore

PANO – Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse has today left Hanoi for Brunei to start State-level visits to Brunei Darussalam from August 26 to 28 and Singapore from August 28 to 30, at the invitation of Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah and Singaporean President Tony Tan Keng Yam.

Relations between Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam are on the move. The two countries will celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations in 2017.

President Tran Dai Quang (L) and his spouse left Hanoi for Brunei on the morning of August 26

Two way trade between Vietnam and Brunei is modest as Brunei is a relatively small market with only 400,000 people. Before 2010, two way trade had been valued at several millions of US dollars. Since 2010, the two countries have boosted two way trade and the trade value has seen a sharp rise: in 2010 it was US$ 24.2 million; jumped up to US$ 204 million in 2011 and US$ 606.5 million in 2012 as Vietnam imported a large amount of crude oil from Brunei; went down to US$ 168 million in 2014 and to only US$ 80 million in 2015 due to economic difficulties of each country.

Vietnam mainly exports seafood and rice while importing chemicals and sometimes crude oil and oil products from Brunei.

Regarding investment, Brunei, which ran 145 projects with total capital of nearly US$ 4.9 billion, was ranked 14^th among the 101 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in 2014. As of June 2016, Brunei took the 18^th place on the list of all 114 foreign investors in Vietnam but the 4^th among ASEAN nations after Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

In recent years, the two countries expanded cooperation in education and training. Noticeably, the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on education cooperation in April 2014, and since then Brunei regularly grants scholarships to Vietnamese students to study in the country.

The two countries do not have many bilateral cultural cooperation programs. Most cultural cooperation programs between the two nations are conducted within the framework of cultural cooperation projects of the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information (ASEAN COCI) But the two countries usually advocate and actively participate in each other’s initiatives on regional cultural cooperation.

Both Vietnam and Brunei are members of the Southeast Asia Games Federation so the two sides have close cooperation in sports, such as training exchange, exchange of athletes and coaches and organization of friendly tourneys and sports seminar.

Meanwhile, Vietnam and Singapore has enjoyed a strategic partnership and the two sides are boosting bilateral relations and cooperation toward political trust and practical outcomes. For political trust and security, the two sides often exchange delegations, hold high-level meetings, and collaborate closely with each other in multilateral forums like ASEAN, APEC, ARF, ASEM and the UN.

Regarding trade, since 1996, Singapore has always been one of Vietnam’s major trade partners. Two-way trade stood at US$ 6.4 billion in 2005, surged to US$ 7,7 billion in 2006, US$ 9.8 billion in 2007 and US$ 12 billion in 2008. In 2009 and 2010, two way trade between the two countries was negatively affected by the global economic recession but bumped back in the following years and reached nearly US$ 10 billion. 2015 saw a record high of Vietnam-Singapore trade when it reached US$ 16.22 billion. Major imports and exports between the two countries include crude oil and oil products, computers, electronics and spare parts, cell phones and some produce.

Singapore has become one of the biggest foreign investors in Vietnam since 1998. As of the second quarter of 2016, Singapore was third on the list of the foreign investors in Vietnam with its total investment of US$ 36.5 billion. Singaporean-invested projects mainly involve property, processing, manufacturing and building. The Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP), including VSIP 1 and 2 in Binh Duong province, VSIP 3 in Bac Ninh, VSIP 4 in Hai Phong, VSIP 5 in Quang Ngai, VSIP 6 in Hai Duong and VSIP 7 in Nghe An, have been a symbol of effective foreign investment in Vietnam. As of March 2016, Singapore poured additional US$ 2 billion into 114 new projects and 43 expansion projects in Vietnam. Singaporean-investment projects are generally considered effective and involve key local economic sectors and localities.

The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on education cooperation in April 2007. Earlier, the two sides set up the Vietnam-Singapore Training Center (VSTC) in Hanoi in November 2001 with its operational cost funded by the Singaporean Government. In March 2008, the two sides founded a High-Quality Training Center in the Vietnam Education Management Academy, which is sponsored by Singapore-based Fund Temasek.

The two countries do not have many cooperation activities in culture but collaborate closely with each other in projects of ASEAN COCI. The two sides’ cooperation in tourism is effective. Singapore is Vietnam’s important tourist market and an attractive destination for Vietnamese tourists. The number of Singaporean tourists to Vietnam reached 236,547 in 2015, up by 7.2% year on year.

The State-level visits to Brunei Darussalam and Singapore of Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse are significant political events in relations between Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam; and Vietnam and Singapore. The visits aim to realize the Party’s foreign policy articulated in the documents of the 12^th National Party Congress.

All Vietnamese people strongly believe that the visits to Brunei Darussalam and Singapore of the Vietnamese President will be successful, deepening friendly relations between Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam, and Vietnam and Singapore, bringing bilateral relations between Vietnam and the two neighboring nations to a new high level.

Written by Editorial Board