PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be making a three-day official visit to Vietnam from Sunday (Aug 27) to Tuesday, during which he will meet with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and witness the ground-breaking of several new industrial parks.

PM Lee’s trip to the capital Hanoi coincides with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Vietnam, and the 10th year of the two countries’ Strategic Partnership.

This will be his first trip to Vietnam since 2018 when he visited Hanoi for the World Economic Forum on Asean. It also reciprocates Chinh’s official visit to Singapore in February this year.

During Chinh’s visit, both prime ministers witnessed the exchange of a set of agreements, including a memorandum of understand on a Green and Digital Economic Partnership.

Bilateral trade between Singapore and Vietnam has grown steadily over the past decade, reaching S$31.3 billion last year, according to latest available statistics. As of last December, Singapore was also Vietnam’s second-largest investor with US$70.8 billion invested.

While in Hanoi, PM Lee will also meet Communist Party of Vietnam general-secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Vo Van Thuong and National Assembly chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, said Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement on Saturday. PM Lee will also be hosted to an official dinner by Chinh.

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He will also join Chinh at an event to witness the virtual groundbreaking ceremony of several Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIPs), as well as the presentation of the investment licenses for new VSIPs.

The existing 13 VSIPs that have been awarded investment licenses by Vietnam so far have generated significant economic growth across North, Central and South Vietnam, attracting more than US$18.4 billion in investments and creating about 300,000 jobs.

Also during his trip, PM Lee will meet with students from the Vietnam National University, as well as engage participants from the inaugural Singapore-Vietnam Youth Leaders Exchange programme.

PM Lee will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing and Manpower Minister and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng.

Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will be Acting Prime Minister during PM Lee’s absence.