Singapore (VNA) – Vietnam and Singapore haveenjoyed fruitful partnership in various areas, including politics, economy, security andpeople-to-people exchange, Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Mai Phuoc Dunghas said.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the 77th NationalDay of Vietnam in Singapore on August 25 with the participation of more than300 local guests, Ambassador Dung said that in the field of economy, Singaporehas been the second largest among the 139 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

As of the end of June, Singapore had run about 3,000projects in Vietnam with a total investment of about 70 billion USD.

In the first half of this year, Singapore invested 4.3million USD in Vietnam, becoming the largest foreign investor in the country.Meanwhile, two-way trade rose nearly 22% year on year to 15.7 billion USD.

Currently, Vietnam is the 12th biggest tradepartner of Singapore, while Singapore is the 15th of Vietnam, henoted.

At the same time, the diplomat affirmed that people-to-peopleexchange is one of a firm pillar in the Vietnam-Singapore ties. Tens ofthousands of Vietnamese scholars, students and workers are living and studyingin Singapore, who have acted as bridges linking the two nations, he said.

According to the ambassador, Vietnam has seen strongrecovery after the pandemic, with GDP growth in the first half of this year reaching6.42%.

Singaporean Minister of Communications and Information JosephineTeo highlighted that Vietnam is an important partner and friend of Singapore inthe ASEAN. Both sides have cooperated closely in key areas of trade,investment, finance, security and defence, she said, underlining that theregular exchange among leaders of both sides and the mutual support throughoutthe pandemic period attested the strong ties between the two countries.

Teo expressed her delight that Singapore was the largest investor in Vietnam in2020 and 2021 with a total investment of about 20 billion USD. TenVietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) have been operating, creating 270,000jobs for Vietnamese labourers, she noted, adding that the two sides haveexpanded their partnership to many new other areas such as cybersecurity, smartcity building, sustainable development and digital economy.

As members of the ASEAN, both sides have also worked closely together andshared viewpoints on many regional issues, she said./.