Remarks by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the joint press briefing at the Office of the Government, Hanoi

Prime Minister Dung

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am very happy to be back in Vietnam to celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties and I would like to thank Prime Minister Dung for his excellent hospitality and for the excellent discussions we have just had. As we have just heard from Prime Minister Dung, our bilateral relations are excellent, and I am very happy that we have decided to elevate our ties to a Strategic Partnership. This reflects our commitment to take our bilateral relations forward, based on mutual respect, trust and benefit. It also reflects our desire to promote peace, stability, prosperity and cooperation in the region.

Our Strategic Partnership will pave the way for new ways of cooperation. For example, in the economic field, we envisage progress in air services to increase air traffic between our countries and also from our countries to the rest of the world. In financial services, Singapore will be happy to provide technical assistance to our Vietnamese counterparts, while Singapore banks hope to set up subsidiaries here and contribute to Vietnam’s financial sector. The Strategic Partnership will also provide a framework for continued high-level exchanges, so for instance on my trip here, I am very happy to bring along a diverse delegation of officials and ministers to build friendships with their Vietnamese counterparts.

We are pleased with the current state of cooperation. Economic ties are robust, our bilateral trade and investments are growing steadily. The Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) that we have launched are thriving and these are tangible examples of our excellent cooperation which have contributed to Vietnam’s development. And we look forward to launching the 5th VSIP in Quang Ngai with Prime Minister Dung on Friday. Our people-to-people ties and our cultural exchanges are also flourishing. For example, the special stamp issue which we just witnessed, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of our bilateral relations, or the joint military band performance which will take place tomorrow afternoon, between the Vietnamese Armed Forces band and the Singapore Armed Forces band.

Vietnam and Singapore also work well both in the region and beyond. Within ASEAN we support a cohesive and integrated ASEAN which enjoys good relations with all its external partners. We share an interest in a stable and peaceful Southeast Asia and we are making progress on important initiatives, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and ASEAN Community Building. On the Trans-Pacific Partnership, we welcome Vietnam’s active participation and negotiations and the good progress being made in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and we look forward to working closely with Vietnam and other negotiating parties to conclude the agreement which will be good for all the participants.

On the South China Sea, which we also discussed, Singapore expressed our view that this is an issue which should be handled with restraint, peacefully, and in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

We believe that freedom of navigation is absolutely essential, and that has to be preserved whatever the outcome of the discussions and deliberations on the issue of the South China Sea. We believe that full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and, at the same time, negotiations to conclude the Code of Conduct (COC) are essential to managing this problem in the foreseeable future.

We believe that ASEAN has an important role to play in this respect because this is something happening in ASEAN’s neighbourhood, and to be an effective organisation, ASEAN must be able to exert a constructive influence on the management of such disputes.