Singapore Ambassador to Vietnam Jaya Ratnam and Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lê Thị Thu Hằng raise a toast to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Singapore Cooperation Programme in Hà Nội on Thursday. Photo courtesy of the embassy

HÀ NỘI — A longstanding partnership in human resource development is a recurring theme in the excellent bilateral ties of Singapore and Việt Nam.

Singapore Ambassador to Việt Nam Jaya Ratnam made the remarks at a reception held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), Singapore’s flagship platform for technical cooperation with developing countries through human resource development and capacity building, at the Vietnam-Singapore Cooperation Centre in Hà Nội on Thursday.

Over the last 30 years and through a wide range of programmes designed for officials from across the spectrum, the SCP has provided training to almost 21,000 Vietnamese officials.

Worldwide, close to 150,000 foreign officials from 180 countries, territories and intergovernmental organisations have participated in a variety of SCP courses.

“Through the SCP, we have forged many friendships across the world and, in our own small way, contributed as a responsible and constructive member of the international community,” said Ambassador Ratnam.

Singapore was an early adopter of virtual online learning via videoconferencing for courses that are held in Singapore as well as in the upgraded Vietnam-Singapore Cooperation Centre (VSCC) in 2020.

“By conducting online courses, we were able to reach out to a wider pool of officials from the Northern, Southern and Central provinces. In total, we were able to organise and conduct up to 36 online courses for over 600 Vietnamese officials in 2020 and 2021 through the SCP and IAI programmes,” said the ambassador. “As Singapore looks forward to celebrating the 50th anniversary of our bilateral relations and 10th year of Strategic Partnership next year, we remain committed to continue supporting Việt Nam in the development of its human resource capabilities and technical capacity."

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the SCP, the Sustainability Action Package (SAP) was launched by Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore in October.

The SAP is one of Singapore’s initiatives which aims to support the capacity-building needs of developing countries on sustainability and climate change. VNS