Along with Singapore, Vietnam will take concrete measures to link the economies of the two countries, and strive for brighter future of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai made the statement when holding talks with his visiting Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on Monday, Vietnam News Agency reported.

During the talks, the prime ministers focused on measures to implement the initiative to link the two economies proposed by Singapore during Khai's visit to the island state in March 2004. In the short term, the two countries will join hands in six areas, namely investment, trade, transport, information technology and telecommunications, finance and banking, and education and training.

Khai affirmed that Vietnam always treasures and wants to beef up multifaceted cooperative and friendly relations on the win-win basis with Singapore, considering the foreign country one of its reliable and important partners.

He also stressed that Vietnam and Singapore, in the current international situations, should promote mutual support, solidarity, cooperation and consultation under the ASEAN framework for peace, stability and prosperity in the region as well as the world.

For his part, Lee said Singapore will continue assisting Vietnam in the fields of finance, banking, transport, science and information technology, which will help develop the private sector and promote investment of Singapore and a third country in Vietnam.

At the end of the talks, Vietnamese Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen and Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang, on behalf of the two governments, signed a statement on concluding the bilateral negotiation about Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organization. Singapore has become the first ASEAN member to wrap up negotiations with Vietnam on the issue.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Singapore stood at more than 3.6 billion US dollars in the first nine months of this year. It was 3.9 billion dollars last year.

Singapore now has 332 investment projects totaling nearly 8 billion dollars in Vietnam, ranking first among foreign investors in the country.

Lee arrived in Hanoi on Monday, starting his first two-day visit to Vietnam since he was sworn into office in August 2004.

Source: Xinhua