Singapore (VNA) – General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Lam, his spouse and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam arrived at Noi Bai International Airport on March 13 afternoon, concluding their three-day official visit to Singapore at the invitation of Prime Minister and Secretary-General of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) Lawrence Wong.

During the visit, General Secretary To Lam held talks with PM Lawrence Wong; met with President Tharma Shamugaratnam and Speaker of the Parliament Seah Kian Peng; received Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean; met with former PM and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong; visited the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (National University of Singapore) and delivered a policy speech on Vietnam’s science, technology, innovation and digital transformation policy in a new era, and opportunities for bilateral cooperation.

On this occasion, Lam and his spouse offered flowers in tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at the Asian Civilizations Museum; attended the orchid naming ceremony at the Singapore Botanic Gardens with the name of this new flower being "Papilionanda To Lam Linh Ly"; received leaders of outstanding businesses in Singapore; witnessed the exchange of cooperation documents; met with overseas Vietnamese intellectuals; met with the Vietnamese Embassy’s officials and staff, and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Singapore; and visited Pansir Panjang Container Terminal, and Technology Centre at the National University of Singapore.

The two sides decided to upgrade the Vietnam - Singapore relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. They pledged to continue consolidating and strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation, political trust, and coordinating to resolve current common challenges on the basis of respect for international law, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political institutions of each country, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, thereby bringing practical benefits to the two countries’ people as well as for a united, self-reliant Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with a central and inclusive role, striving to for peace, stability and development of the region and the world.

To implement the freshly-established Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the two leaders agreed to assign the two countries' Ministries of Foreign Affairs to coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to develop an action plan for implementation.

Discussing new developments in the East Sea, the two sides reaffirmed the need to continue strengthening political trust, calling on all relevant parties to settle disputes on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Both sides reaffirmed that the 1982 UNCLOS sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out and is of strategic importance as the basis for national, regional, and global action and cooperation in the marine sector, and that its integrity needs to be maintained.

On this occasion, the Vietnamese Party chief sincerely thanked the Government and people of Singapore for their warm welcome given to the delegation. He respectfully invited PM Wong to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time and the Singaporean leader accepted the invitation with pleasure.

ꦅ Lam's first visit to Singapore as Party General Secretary marked a new step forward in the bilateral relations and demonstrated Vietnam’s desire to promote relations with Singapore to new heights, in accordance with its foreign policies and guidelines./.