Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visits Vietnamese community in Singapore
On his official visit to Singapore, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh with his spouse and a Vietnamese delegation visited the staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese community on February 8.
At the meeting, PM Chinh expressed his pleasure with an official visit to Singapore and had a friendly meeting and open conversation with overseas compatriots, and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy to Singapore.
For the beginning of the Lunar New Year, the prime minister sent people warm affection, considerate greetings, and wishes for health and happiness from General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, senior Vietnamese leaders, and himself.
He said that he was honoured to make his first visit as PM of Vietnam, to Singapore after nearly five years, which opened events celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and 10 years of establishing the Vietnam - Singapore Strategic Partnership in this year.
The PM said that the results of the visit will create a new impetus for stronger, deeper, substantive, and effective cooperation between the two countries and two peoples.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Mai Phuoc Dung said that although the number of officials and employees of the representative agencies of Vietnam in Singapore, including embassies, trade offices, APEC Secretariat, and Vietnam News Agency was a few, they were united and had made great efforts to complete their work
The Vietnamese community in Singapore has more than 15,000 people, including about 9,000 students, 2,000 intellectuals, and 2,000 workers. The community complies with local laws, and forms a bridge between the peoples of the two countries. Vietnamese enterprises operating in Singapore such as Vietnam Airlines, Petrolimex, FPT, and Vietcombank see good business results and growth.
Ta Thuy Lien, head of the Liaison Board of the Vietnamese community in Singapore, expressed her gratitude at the attention of the Party, the government, and the PM to the Vietnamese community.
"The community always aspire to contribute to the development of the country; actively apply digital technology in work; gathers officials and experts working at major technology corporations in the world based in Singapore to share and orient career for Vietnamese young people in Singapore," she said.
She suggested that it was necessary to strengthen the teaching of Vietnamese language to children of Vietnamese people in Singapore. She also proposed solutions to the government and prime minister for Vietnamese workers to integrate into the Singapore market, such as promoting information on the labour situation in Singapore; agreements between the two countries to protect the interests of Vietnamese people; improved training, especially in foreign languages and vocational skills; increased innovation; and strengthened connections with Vietnamese intellectuals and experts in Singapore.
Ta Thuy Lien, head of the Liaison Board of the Vietnamese community in Singapore, speaking at the meeting
PM Chinh's official visit to Singapore took place in the context of the Vietnam-Singapore Strategic Partnership developing dynamically in many fields.
The two countries maintain regular and effective exchanges of delegations and high-level contacts. The cooperation between the two sides in fields such as education, culture, tourism, defence-security, and so on is also being consolidated and enhanced.
In particular, economic cooperation is considered a bright spot in the bilateral relationship. Currently, Singapore is one of Vietnam's top important economic partners in the region. The bilateral trade turnover in 2022 reached about $9 billion, up 10.1 per cent compared to 2021.
Singapore maintains its leading position in ASEAN and is second out of 141 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 3,032 valid projects worth $70.39 billion. The Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park chain is considered a symbol of economic cooperation between the two countries.
