Vietnam's top leader To Lam to make state visit to Singapore, give Shangri-La Dialogue keynote

[SINGAPORE] Vietnam’s Communist Party chief To Lam is heading to Singapore on Thursday (May 28) for a state visit, as he embarks on a series of overseas trips after being elected last month as the country’s president.

He will be in the city-state for four days, at the invitation of Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam. This follows earlier visits by Lam to China, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. After his Singapore stop, he will continue on to the Philippines.

Lam is due to deliver the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Friday evening, marking the second time a Vietnamese leader has done so.

He will also be the highest-ranking Vietnamese official to address the defence summit and the first general secretary of a communist party to do so, wrote Le Hong Hiep, a senior fellow at Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, on the research centre’s commentary and analysis platform, Fulcrum.

The coordinator of the institute’s Vietnam Studies programme noted that, in a security forum historically dominated by defence ministers, admirals and liberal-democratic heads of government, such a distinction is telling and likely to rank among the defining moments of Vietnam’s foreign policy this year.

Lam’s itinerary includes a site visit to the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre to understand how Singapore scales the deployment of advanced manufacturing technologies.

He will also visit Bishan Depot to learn about the city-state’s infrastructure development, in line with Vietnam’s ongoing expansion of its urban rail network.

On Friday, Lam will deliver a speech at the Vietnam-Singapore Tech Connect Forum – a joint event by Vietnam’s foreign affairs as well as science and technology ministries and Singapore’s foreign affairs ministry to promote cooperation in science, technology, innovation and digital transformation.

He will also call on President Tharman and meet Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, said Singapore’s foreign affairs ministry on Thursday.

SEE ALSO

From farmland to factory floor: Vietnam-Singapore industrial parks gear up for next chapter

How Singapore and Vietnam should build strategic complementarity

Singapore-Vietnam talent exchange scheme for young professionals up and running

Food cooperation, industrial park upgrades are potential areas to explore in Singapore-Vietnam partnership: PM Wong

Shangri-La Dialogue this year could be the most important ever amid geopolitical instability

Singapore-Vietnam ties will strengthen, with deeper cooperation and like-minded partners: PM Wong

PM Wong to make introductory visit to Hanoi on Mar 25 and 26

Singapore, Vietnam upgrade ties to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

More

The Singapore president and his wife, Jane Ittogi Shanmugaratnam, will host a state banquet in honour of Lam and his wife, Ngo Phuong Ly.

On Saturday, Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng will call on Lam. The Vietnamese leader will also participate in a tree-planting ceremony with PM Wong, and be hosted to separate meals by the Singapore leader and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Bilateral ties

Lam previously made an official visit to Singapore in March 2025 as the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, a role he was first elected to in August 2024 before being re-elected in January 2026.

His dual roles put him in charge of the party and the state – the two most powerful positions in Vietnam’s political system.

During last year’s visit, both countries upgraded bilateral relations to the highest-tier Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the first such instance between the city-state and an Asean member nation. Ties were elevated to a strategic partnership back in September 2013.

Following Lam’s trip, PM Wong made an introductory visit to Vietnam in March 2025, as part of a customary series of such trips across South-east Asian capitals – a tradition followed by previous prime ministers shortly after taking office.

Vietnam stood as Singapore’s 10th largest trading partner in 2025, with bilateral trade in goods reaching some S$40 billion. The city-state was Vietnam’s largest foreign direct investor in 2024, having injected nearly US$10.2 billion.

The flagship project of both countries’ economic cooperation is the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) network.

The initiative is a joint venture between Singapore’s Temasek-backed energy transition and urban development solutions provider Sembcorp Industries and Vietnam’s state-owned industrial and urban real estate developer Becamex.

To date, 22 VSIPs stand across 15 provinces in Vietnam, drawing more than US$28 billion in investments from some 1,000 tenants and creating over 340,000 jobs in Vietnam.

Both parties are working towards developing the next generation of the model – described as VSIP 2.0 – which will focus on integrated smart technology, as well as sustainable and green systems to attract higher-value investments.

Next year, Singapore will chair Asean while Vietnam will chair the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

Lam is currently accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising more than a dozen ministers and senior officials – including Politburo members Nguyen Duy Ngoc, who chairs the Central Organization Commission, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Phan Van Giang, according to the Vietnamese government’s official information channel.