PANO – President Tran Dai Quang attended the Singapore-Vietnam Business Forum on August 29 during his State visit to Singapore from August 28-30. The forum co-held by the Vietnam Charm of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Singaporean counterparts at Ritz Carton Hotel was attended by representatives of about 250 businesses of both countries.

At the forum, President Tran Dai Quang ran a brief introduction of the economy of Vietnam, saying that the country has become a middle-income nation with the per capita income of about USD 2,100 and the GDP of USD 200 billion and is accelerating industrialization, modernization and international integration. In 2015, the economy enjoyed a growth rate of 6.7%, the highest rate since 2011. In the coming time, Vietnam is to fully implement its ASEAN Community and WTO commitments, join new free trade agreements and integrate into the regional and global economy in a deeper and broader manner. Vietnam is consistently implementing its targets of rapid and sustainable economic growth in parallel with maintaining macro-economic stability and reforming economic growth models; promoting the knowledge-based economy; improving the level of science and technology; increasing the productivity as well as the quality of the economy; and effectively joining the production connection network and the global value chain.

President Tran Dai Quang speaking at the forum

Vietnam has set the average annual growth rate for the next five years at 6.5% to 7%; the GDP per capita at USD 3,200 to 3,500 by 2020 and the economic size of USD 350 billion, said the Vietnamese top leader.

Regarding Vietnam-Singapore relations, the President joyfully stated that Singapore has been one of the first foreign investors in Vietnam, and Singaporean investors are doing business actively and effectively in various economic sectors of the country. In ASEAN, Singapore is a major partner of Vietnam in such realms as trade, tourism, international transport, education and training, health… and is the third biggest foreign investor, with 1,664 projects valued at USD 38 billion, in Vietnam.

Socio-cultural, tourism and health cooperation between the two countries has also seen remarkable achievements. About 240,000 Singaporean travelers visited Vietnam and some 400,000 Vietnamese visitors toured Singapore in 2015. Singapore is also preferred by Vietnamese high school and higher education students. Vietnamese students studying in Singapore have been contributing to the national construction and development of Vietnam and serve as the factor to further promote the bilateral relations.

President Tran Dai Quang affirmed that Vietnam has always highly valued and been  grateful to former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and generations of Singaporean leaders for their contributions to the making of policies for the economic development of Vietnam and developing the friendship and cooperative relations between the two countries.

To lift the Vietnam-Singapore strategic partnership to a new height in line with the potential and aspiration of both countries, contributing to building an ASEAN Community of prosperity, peace, security and development in the Asia - Pacific region, President Tran Dai Quang suggested:

In terms of investment, Singapore businesses are encouraged to invest in information technology, biological, environmental, infrastructure development, finance - banking, tourism - high quality service, logistics, healthcare, education, support industry, maritime service and offshore equipment, and PPP projects in Vietnam. They are also encouraged to participate in the equitization of Vietnam’s state-owned enterprises. The two countries should also promote businesses’ investment via venture capital funds, information exchange, experience sharing and connection of Vietnamese enterprises to the global market.

As for trade, the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community and the Tran-pacific Partnership prospects make it possible for the two countries to double their bilateral import and export value in the future, reaching for even balance of trade. Vietnam appreciates the opening of the Singaporean market to Vietnamese agricultural products and hopes to continue to export more consumer commodities, electronic products and accessories to Singapore. Vietnam highly values the quality, stable supply and continues to import petroleum products, chemicals, machinery and components from Singapore.

Regarding tourism, Vietnam boasts natural beauty spots recognized by UNESCO and many attractive destinations of huge tourism potential, such as Da Nang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, etc. Vietnam expects to soon increase the annual number of visitors to and from Singapore to 1 million people and open more commercial flight routes from Chang-gi Airport of Singapore to tourist attractions of Vietnam.

Under the motto “Your success is our success”, the President pledged that Vietnam will create a favorable and equitable environment for businesses and an open environment for investment, meeting the requirements of integration and international practices of foreign investors, including those from Singapore.

President Tran Dai Quang then witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between VCCI and Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and an agreement between Vietcombank and the Government Investment Company of Singapore (GIC).

After the signing ceremony, President Tran Dai Quang and a number of ministers in the entourage answered questions from representatives of businesses at the forum.

* In the afternoon the same day, President Tran Dai Quang received Chairman of Ascendas-Singbridge Group Wong Kan Seng and President of Sembcorp Group Tang Kin Fei. Ascendas-Singbridge and Semcorp are two big Singaporean groups famous in the fields of energy, marine industry, infrastructure development, precision mechanics, construction, real estate, logistics, service, investment…They both have projects in operation in Vietnam.

In the evening, Singaporean President Tony Tan Keng Yam and his spouse hosted a State-level banquet for President Tran Dai Quang, his spouse and entourage.

Reported by Van Yen from Singapore

Translated by Huu Duong