On Friday, in Ha Noi, Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Xuan Anh met with Singaporean Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong who is paying a 4-day visit to Viet Nam at the invitation of his counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Secretary Anh (left) and Singaporean PM Lee

Also attendance were municipal People’s Committee (PC) Vice Chairman Ho Ky Minh and leaders of Da Nang’s Investment Promotion and Support Board and the departments of Planning and Investment, and Foreign Affairs.

Secretary Anh thanked the Singaporean PM for taking the time to meet with the Da Nang leaders.  He remarked that Da Nang is focusing on promoting the development of high-quality human resources, and the service and hi-tech industries.  Special attention is being paid to building synchronous infrastructure systems and a civilised urban lifestyle.

The city leader added, “Da Nang and Singapore share many similarities in geographical position and sustainable development strategies.  Therefore, I hope that the Singaporean leader will encourage more businesses from his country to invest in Da Nang’s priority aspects such as the environment, hi-tech, information technology, education, real estate and urban planning.”

Mr Anh took the opportunity to ask for help from the Singaporean PM to nominate Da Nang for the ‘Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize’ in 2018.

Last November, Da Nang completed the preparation of the necessary documentation for this award, and on 14 March it was announced that Da Nang had passed the preliminary qualifying round of the award, and was now required to prepare for the next round.

Secretary Anh noted “It will be a great honour for Da Nang, and for Viet Nam as a whole, if the city wins this notable prize”.

He also invited Prime Minister Lee to attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week (AELW) in Da Nang from 5 - 11 November.

The meeting in progress

In reply, Prime Minister Lee highlighted the significance of the Singapore - Da Nang direct flights in promoting the development of the city’s tourism sector, and offered his support for large Singaporean groups to seek investment opportunities in the city. 

Mr Lee said he hoped that Da Nang’s 15ha Software Park project, under the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between municipal PC Chairman Huynh Duc Tho and leaders of Singapore's Sembcorp Development Company, would be deployed very soon. 

He expressed his belief that, with its great potentials and strengths, Da Nang would make careful preparations to ensure the success of the AELW.

To date, Da Nang has attracted 22 FDI projects, totalling 726.2 million USD, from Singaporean businesses.  These projects are mainly on manufacturing industry, real estate, education, construction, and IT.

Currently, the city authorities are creating very favourable conditions for Sembcorp Development Company to invest an estimated 150 million USD into the Software Park project.