Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang on Wednesday afternoon hosted a reception for Singaporean Ambassador to Viet Nam Jaya Ratnam on the occasion of his visit to the city.

Secretary Nguyen Van Quang (right) presenting a momento to Singaporean Ambassador to Viet Nam Jaya Ratnam. Photo: NGOC PHU

Ambassador Jaya Ratnam expressed his impression on the landscapes and people of Da Nang, and affirmed that Singapore and Da Nang share similarities in infrastructure development, especially the Information Technology (IT) Dedicated Park and the Hi-tech Industrial Park, high quality human resources and the role of leaders in local development.

The Singaporan diplomat said he hoped for stronger cooperation between Da Nang and Singapore as two nations will mark the 50^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 10^th anniversary of establishing the strategic partnership in 2023.

Secretary Quang applauded the visit by Ambassador Jaya Ratnam to Da Nang, and affirmed that Singapore is an important partner for Da Nang to attract foreign investment.

Singapore is the second-largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Da Nang with 31 projects totalling over USD 838.6 million, accounting for around  22% of the city’s total FDI flows. Till date, 20 businesses in Da Nang have established trade relations with Singapore’s partners.

The Da Nang Party Chief said that Da Nang has chosen Singapore as its model during its building and development process while the execution of the Da Nang Master Plan by 2030 with a vision to 2045 is being carried out in the city with the support of a Singaporean consulting unit.

Mr Quang also voiced hope that effective operation of Singaporean businesses in Da Nang will encourage more investors from their country to pour money into the city’s projects.

He also asked for help from Mr Jaya Ratnam to strengthen bilateral cooperation with Da Nang, as well as with Viet Nam at large, in the aspects of hi-technology, IT and digital transformation.

Da Nang People’s Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh (right) presenting a momento to the Singapore diplomat. Photo: NGOC PHU

On the same day, the Singaporean Ambassador paid a courtesy visit to Da Nang People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh. During his reception for the Singaporean guest, Mr Chinh said that the city’s economy being hit by the COVID-19 pandemic has bounced back as its tourism and hospitality sector is experiencing a strong recovery and investment attraction is also yielding fruitful results. These postive outcomes have been attributed to social consensus and solidarity among the government and people of Da Nang and active support of local businesses along with great leadership from Viet Nam’s national government.

Chairman Chinh took the opportunity to ask Mr Jaya Ratnam to continue his efforts to encourage Singaporean businesses that have strengths in finance and technology to seek investment and cooperation opportunities in Da Nang.

The Da Nang government’s leader also asked for more support from the Singaporean diplomat to facilitate the city’s businesses to export high value added ‘made-in Da Nang’ products to Singapore in order to take more advantage of free trade agreements (FTAs) to increase exports.

Reporting by NGOC PHU – Translating by H.L