Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc holds phone talks with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Long (Photo: VNA)

PM Lee congratulated Vietnam on the successes of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam and PM Phuc’s re-election to the Politburo.

He also congratulated Vietnam’s achievements in containing the COVID-19 pandemic while making progress in socio-economic development, as well as the country’s fulfilment of its role as Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2020, which included the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, opening up new opportunities for trade and investment liberalisation in the entire region.

PM Lee reaffirmed that Singapore cherishes its strategic partnership with Vietnam, especially against the backdrops of complicated regional and international developments.

PM Phuc, for his part, also noted how Singapore has been regarded as a “bright spot” in the region with regards to containing the pandemic, and praised Singapore’s economic recovery initiatives including the setting up of “air travel bubble” and Connect@Changi, aiming at facilitating travel and reopening the borders.

He suggested the two sides cooperate in containing COVID-19 outbreaks and getting access to safe sources of COVID-19 vaccines; create favourable conditions for businesses and investors to restore production, trade and investment; effectively utilise the bilateral relations within the framework of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and RCEP to promote trade and minimise disputes.

The two leaders held that the bilateral Strategic Partnership is growing effectively and substantially; affirmed to strengthen cooperation in fields in which both countries have potential such as agriculture, fisheries, finance, information technology, education and training, infrastructure, as well as other sectors aiming at meeting the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution-era such as clean energy development, smart cities and smart urban solutions, innovation, digital economy and digitalisation.

Vietnam and Singapore should also step up the sharing of experience in economic management and development and human resources training, especially high-quality human resources, the said.

The two prime ministers also discussed a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern.

Regarding the East Sea, the two leaders affirmed the importance of strengthening cooperation, maintenance of peace and security, and peaceful resolution of disputes on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), moving towards an effective and practical Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea./.VNA

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