Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade, Nguyen Hong Dien, met with Singapore's Second Minister for Trade and Industry, Tan See Leng, in Hanoi on March 20th to discuss strengthening economic and trade relations between the two countries.

Both ministers hailed the existing economic partnership as a model of success within Southeast Asia and expressed a desire to expand collaboration into emerging areas such as energy transition, the digital economy, digital transformation, and green economy initiatives.

Energy cooperation was a key focus, with both sides commending ongoing joint projects, particularly those focused on clean energy. They emphasized the potential for even greater cooperation in this sector.

Second Minister Tan See Leng proposed joint research and implementation projects between Vietnam and Singapore, potentially involving other partners, with a focus on wind and clean energy development.

Echoing this sentiment, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien expressed Vietnam's interest in learning from Singapore's experience in developing policy mechanisms to support robust energy and clean energy cooperation. He proposed that working groups from both ministries share technical expertise to turn this potential into concrete action.

The Vietnamese minister also suggested strengthening human resource development in the energy sector through collaboration between universities and research institutions. Additionally, he requested Singapore's assistance in developing strategies for industries, energy, trade, digital transformation, and green transition within Vietnam's ministry units.

Singapore is currently Vietnam's fourth-largest trading partner within ASEAN and its second-largest foreign investor. Bilateral trade reached $9.1 billion in 2023, and in the first two months of 2024, trade has already hit $1.5 billion. Last year, Vietnam and Singapore signed an upgraded connectivity framework agreement, with energy cooperation becoming one of its five core pillars.