Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Phan Văn Mãi (right) was speaking last week at a reception for Tan See Leng, Singapore’s Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry. VNA/VNS Photo Xuân khu

HCM CITY — HCM City will expand cooperation with Singapore in human resources development, as well as grow the quantity and quality of investments from Singapore.

Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Phan Văn Mãi was speaking last week at a reception for Tan See Leng, Singapore’s Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry. 

Mãi said the city would create the most favourable conditions for Singaporean enterprises to do long-term business in the city. 

“Singapore is among the biggest investors in the city, and the city is committed to quickly handling bottlenecks in projects in the city,” Mãi said.

Mãi highly appreciated Singapore’s experience in smart city building, urban management, energy, tourism, digital technology and green economy, and thus wanted Singapore to cooperate and share its experience.

The two sides have continued to identify new areas of bilateral economic cooperation, including in renewable energy, innovation and start-ups, according to Mãi.

“The city would also create optimal conditions for enterprises of both sides to develop their partnership by improving its business climate while increasing transparency,” Mãi said.

For his part, Leng said Singapore is ready to collaborate and exchange experience with HCM City in human resources development as it is the most important resource of each nation. 

Singapore will also share its experience with HCM City in the development of innovative start-up incubators, contributing to the city’s sustainable development, he added.

Bilateral trade between Việt Nam and Singapore was worth US$26.9 billion last year, up 18.7 per cent year-on-year.

Foreign direct investment from Singapore reached nearly $10.7 billion last year, making it the largest investor in Việt Nam.

In addition to HCM City and Hà Nội, Singapore companies are expanding into other regions such as Vĩnh Phúc and Bắc Ninh provinces in the north, and Bình Dương in the south. — VNS