Singaporean media highlights President Phuc’s visit
Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc will make a state visit to Singapore this week at the invitation of President Halimah Yacob, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on February 22.
The trip, from February 24 to 26, is the first state visit Singapore will receive since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, news website channelnewsasia.com quoted the statement as saying.
It said that the Vietnamese leader will meet with President Halimah, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and Singapore parliamentarians during his visit. He will receive a ceremonial welcome at the Istana on February 25, followed by a call on Mdm Halimah, who will host a state banquet in his honour that evening.
Phuc and Lee will also jointly witness the signing of bilateral agreements that will further strengthen the multifaceted cooperation between Singapore and Vietnam, the MFA said. President Phuc will also deliver the keynote address at the Singapore-Vietnam Business Dialogue, to be organised by the Singapore Business Federation and the Vietnamese embassy.
He will meet Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and visit the Sembcorp Tengeh Floating Solar Farm the following day before departing Singapore, the ministry said. "President Phuc's state visit reaffirms Singapore's excellent ties with Vietnam, as both countries prepare to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Strategic Partnership in 2023," MFA said.
Meanwhile, Prof. Bilveer Singh from the National University of Singapore assessed that the visit will convey a message to the world in general and ASEAN in particular that even in the context of the pandemic, and in the era of political, economic and health uncertainties, the two countries are still moving forward, and strengthening their bilateral relations based on mutual trust.
According to the professor, both countries have their own ways to benefit each other, which is reflected in the number of Singapore’s industrial parks in Vietnam. Both Vietnam and Singapore are looking forward to strengthening their bilateral relations to become fulcrums of Southeast Asia in terms of political, economic and strategic relations.
Regarding the development of the bilateral relationship since the two countries upgraded it to a strategic partnership in 2013, the expert said that the two nations are extremely important partners of each other. Both Vietnam and Singapore are parties to the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM ).
The two nations also reach consensus on the East Sea issue, and believe in the rules-based order in which the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) plays an important role, Singh said. He expressed his hope that Singaporean leaders will soon visit Vietnam and the bilateral relations will be further promoted with mutual trust.
