Opening Remarks by President Halimah Yacob at Singapore-Vietnam Business Roundtable

His Excellency, Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment

Dr Tan See Leng, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry

Mr Lim Ming Yan, Chairman of the Singapore Business Federation

Distinguished Guests

Fellow Singaporeans

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

I am glad to join you here today in Ho Chi Minh City, for the Singapore-Vietnam business roundtable, organised by the Singapore Business Federation.

Singapore and Vietnam share a strong and substantive bilateral relationship. Our cooperation is multi-faceted, ranging from trade and investment, defence, education, finance, transport, agri trade, intellectual property, technical assistance to people-to-people exchanges.

At the regional level, Singapore and Vietnam are like-minded partners in FTAs like Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

It is with this strong foundation that Singapore and Vietnam trade and investment ties emerged stronger despite the pandemic.

In 2021, our bilateral trade grew 18.7% from the previous year to reach S$26.9 billion. Vietnam is also Singapore’s 4^th largest trade partner in Southeast Asia.

On the investment front, Singapore was Vietnam’s largest foreign investor in 2021, with the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amounting to nearly US$10.7 billion.

Over the years, Singapore companies have steadily expanded their investments in Vietnam, in provinces from North to South, and in diversified sectors. Many have found committed and long-term partners in Vietnam, and are happy to continue to play a useful role in Vietnam’s economy.

One good example is the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP). First established in 1996, the VSIP is a joint venture between Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries and Vietnam’s Becamex. 26 years on, there are now 11 VSIPs across 8 provinces in Vietnam today. Together, these 11 VSIPs span over 9000 hectares and have attracted over US$17billion of investment capital. The 880 local and foreign tenant companies hire over 300,000 personnel in Vietnam. I was at Bac Ninh yesterday and saw first-hand VSIP’s development. The VSIPs have contributed substantially to Vietnam’s manufacturing sector and export sectors, created jobs and upskilled talent.

Another more recent example is the partnership between Singapore’s NCS Group and Vietnam’s leading IT firm, FPT Software. Just in August, NCS and FPT announced the launch of a Strategic Delivery Centre (SDC) in Hanoi, Vietnam. The SDC in Vietnam is expected to employ a team of over 3,000 strong by 2025, to support the digital transformation requirements of NCS’ Asia Pacific network. This also marks NCS’ first project in Vietnam.

As we look to the future, I am pleased to note Singapore and Vietnam exploring partnerships in digital economy and green economy. There is much that Singapore and Vietnam can complement each other in these fields, to address our international and regional interests and commitments.

This is evidenced by the slew of MOUs signed during President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s State Visit to Singapore in February and this State Visit to Vietnam, such as MOUs on energy cooperation between Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry and Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade and carbon credits collaboration between Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry and Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

It is heartening to note the strong showing from the Singapore and Vietnam companies at today’s event. I hope that the roundtable would be a useful platform for Singapore and Vietnam businesses to come together, to strengthen existing relationships, and to forge new ones.

I wish all participants a fruitful roundtable.

Thank you.