Singapore and Vietnam announce intention to deepen cooperation in emerging areas including renewable energy

25 August 2023

The Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry (“MTI”) announced on 7 July 2023 cooperation initiatives agreed by Singapore and Vietnam to deepen bilateral economic cooperation in emerging areas.

Singapore-Vietnam relationship

Singapore companies have steadily expanded their investments in Vietnam in diversified sectors including logistics, infrastructure, manufacturing, and consumer goods and services. For example, the recently concluded Memorandum of Understanding on Green-Digital Economic Partnership signed between MTI and Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment is expected to foster future collaborations between companies from both countries in the green and digital economies.

Bilateral trade between both countries reached S$31.3 billion in 2022. Vietnam was also Singapore’s 11th largest trading partner in 2022. Singapore was Vietnam’s largest foreign investor in 2022 with US$6.46 billion, accounting for 23.3% of Vietnam’s total foreign capital investments.

In addition, Singapore and Vietnam are both members of multilateral free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Cooperation initiatives

During the July 2023 visit to Vietnam, Singapore Second Minister for Trade and Industry Dr Tan See Leng met with Chairman of the Central Economic Commission H.E. Tran Tuan Anh, Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Le Minh Khai, Minister of Planning and Investment H.E. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Investment and Trade H.E. Nguyen Hong Dien, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs H.E. Dao Ngoc Dung, and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment H.E. Dang Kuoc Khanh (collectively, “Ministers”).

The Ministers discussed cooperation in emerging areas, including renewable energy, sustainability and innovation, as well as expanding the scope of the 17th Singapore-Vietnam Connectivity Ministerial Meeting (CMM) to cover these areas when held later this year. The meetings also discussed potential collaboration opportunities in green finance, digital economy, talent exchanges and agri-trade flows.

Minister Tan also co-witnessed the signing of 12 Memoranda of Understanding and the launch of the Singapore Business Federation-United Overseas Bank Joint Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative. The newly inked partnerships in sustainability, digitalisation, financial services, and human capital development highlight the mutual interest between the Singapore and Vietnam entities to deepen collaboration.

Reference materials

The media release is available on the MTI website www.mti.gov.sg.