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After the welcoming ceremony, the two PMs had talks during which they exchanged information of political situations and socio-economic development in each country and expressed their pleasure at the friendly and cooperative ties between the two countries, especially in trade and investment.

The two leaders confirmed their determination to put into reality the Joint Declaration on comprehensive cooperation between Việt Nam and Singapore in the 21st century signed in March 2004 and the Framework Agreement on bridging the Vietnamese and Singaporean economies signed in December 2005 in six fields: finance, investment, trade-service, transport, posts-telecommunication-information technology, and education-training. Both the host and the guest agreed to consider the possibilities to broaden the cooperation in other fields, such as food processing, garments, textiles and footwear.

The two sides applauded Singapore's new investment and business projects in Bắc Ninh, Thừa Thiên Huế, Phú Yên and Hải Phòng City. They pledged to provide a favorable environment for trade and investment activities.

PM Lee Hsien Loong made the commitment that his government will continue assist Việt Nam in training human resource through providing scholarships to more Vietnamese students to learn in Singapore and promoting education cooperation programs between universities of the two countries.

The two PMs showed their agreement to closely collaborate each other within the ASEAN frame in order to boost the construction of the ASEAN Community by 2015 and the compilation of the ASEAN Charter.

After the talks, PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng and PM Lee Hsien Loong witnessed the signings of four cooperation documents between the leading Singaporean groups and some Vietnamese localities, namely: two investment projects between Sembcorp Group and Hải Phòng and Bắc Ninh; the agreement on cooperation principle between Akitek Tenggara and Thừa Thiên–Huế on the overall planning scheme for tourism development; the memorandum of understanding on investment in a petro-chemical factory and technological complex in Phú Yên by SP Chemicals.

Later, at the Singapore Convention Center, PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng had a cordial meeting with over 200 international and Singaporean businesses. Addressing the Forum, PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng affirmed: “Việt Nam always considers foreign investors as an indispensable part of the Vietnamese economy. Foreign investors' success in Việt Nam is also the country's triumph”.

At the Forum, Vietnamese enterprises signed many economic contracts worth of nearly US$ 1 billion.

On the same day, PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng had separate meetings with Singaporean President S.R Nathan; Senior Mentor Lee Kuan Yew; and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong; received CEOs of Keppel (gas and oil, fixed assets, warehouse), AES (electricity and electric distribution), Singapore Post, Singapore Pools, NTUC Fairprice Coopertive, and Hotel Property Ltd.

By Xuân Hồng