Singaporean Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in Wednesday talks with Vietnamese leaders proposed building a master development plan with feasible steps ensuring the stability and continuity of development flows.
Lee commented after meetings with Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and State President in Hanoi January 17.
The Minister Mentor emphasized Vietnam needs consistent policies regarding human resource development, measures balancing urban and rural development, and that applying modern technology in administrative procedures would be a driving force in the process.
Mr Lee also highly appreciated socioeconomic achievements and changes in Vietnam over the past 10 years, expressing optimism that Vietnam will continue to further accomplishments in the future as a WTO member.
Vietnam is “making up for lost time in its growing enthusiasm for the market.” Mr Lee called on Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung a day earlier, noting that Vietnam joining the World Trade Organization last week is expected to further raise foreign investment and trade in the country with the world’s second fastest GDP growth rate of over 8 per cent.
Looking back at Vietnam’s history, Lee said he first visited Vietnam in 1992, but during repeat visits in the 1990s he felt “there was not much transformation because at that time Vietnam was still not ready to take steps to become a market economy.”
“Vietnam is moving at good speed and making up for lost time,” the Minister Mentor said, hailing Vietnam’s new, younger political leadership in talks with Vietnam PM Dung, 57, who took office last June.
Lee is paying a 5-day working visit to Vietnam at the invitation of PM Dung, accompanied by Singapore’s Finance and Transport Minister Lim Hwee Hua, Trade and Industry Minister S Iswaran, and other officials.
Singapore is one of Vietnam’s major Southeast Asian trade and investment partners, Vietnam’s foreign ministry spokesman Le Dung said last week.
Bilateral trade reached $6.7 billion in the first 11 months of 2006, said the Singapore Embassy in Hanoi. Singaporean exports to Vietnam topped $5.2 billion, and imports from Vietnam reached $1.5 billion.
Singapore ranks eighth in terms of Vietnam’s FDI investment. (Local news sources)
Vietnamese
