Vietnamese, Singaporean Economies to Be Linked

Vietnam and Singapore will closely link their economies by signing a cooperative agreement early next month, announced the spokesperson of the Vietnam Foreign Ministry Le Dung yesterday.

 

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is slated to sign the accord during his upcoming tour to the foreign country, the spokesman reported.

 

He further informed that the two countries planned to build a comprehensive cooperative mechanism, in addition to old ties in the fields of finance, investment, commercial-service, transportation, post-telecommunication, IT training and education that were reached in December last year.

 

The initiative to connect the two economies was raised by Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong during the trip of Vietnamese Prime Minister to Singapore in March 2004. Also at this time, the two sides signed a Comprehensive Cooperation Framework for the 21st century.

 

Vietnam and Singapore have witnessed fruitful developments of bilateral relations in recent years, especially in the fields of trade and economic.

 

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Singapore reached S$7.48 (US$4.4 billion) in the first nine months of 2005, posting a year-on-year increase of 34 per cent, the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore reported on November 17.

 

Currently, Singapore is the second largest foreign investor in Vietnam, after Taiwan. Vietnam has so far attracted 375 Singaporean projects with total registered investment capital of US$7.47 billion.