On 28 March 2013, at the headquarters of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS),1 Lieu Giai street, Hanoi, the President of VASS, Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang met the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Singapore to Vietnam, Mr. Ng Tek Hean.
The Singaporean Ambassador expressed his pleasure to visit and meet with the President of VASS, and his desire to strengthen mutual understandings and relationship between Vietnam and Singapore in general and relations between the Embassy and VASS in particular.
The President of VASS, Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang delivered a welcome speech and emphasized that although the relationship between the Embassy and VASS has not been particularly close, many specialized institutes under VASS have established partnerships to exchange and conduct scientific research with a numberof institutes, research centers and renowned universities in Singapore. A number of VASS researchers have had the opportunity, via mutual research projects and scholarship funds, to study and work at Singaporean research institutes and universities namely the National University of Singapore (NUS), Lee Kuan Yew school of public policy, Institute for South East Asia Studies (ISEAS) under NUS, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), etc.
The President of VASS briefed to the Ambassador on the functions, duties, and organizational structure of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences as stipulated in Decree 109/2012/ND-CP of the Prime Minister. The role of VASS is to contribute to the formulation of direction and strategies for national development under the context of global changes.
Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang expressed his admiration for Singapore, a country that reaped outstanding achievements since its independence in 1965 based on human intelligence to innovate and grow in conditions of limited resources. The development of Singapore is a model that Vietnam wants to learn from. Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, was repeatedly invited to Vietnam as a special guest of the Government to introduce and share Singapore’s development experiences. Mr. Lee Kuan Yew has made a number of presentations in development forum. Therefore, The President of VASS agreed with the Ambassador that it is necessary to further strengthen the current relationship between the Embassy and VASS; particularly during this term due to a number of regional issues under the concern of scientists and policy-makers, such as challenges in realizing the ASEAN Community, and the need for further strengthening the role of Singapore and Vietnam in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations..
The Ambassador thanked Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thang, for his good comments about Singapore, and briefed on several cooperation activities between Vietnam and Singapore in 2013, the year marking 40 years of diplomatic ties. Singapore Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, will visit Vietnam in the second half of this year. On this occasion, the two countries will enter into a higher partnership, especially in the fields of education, information technology, and defense.
The meeting took place in an atmosphere of intimacy and friendship. Both parties agreed to further strengthen the cooperation in scientific research, training, scholar exchanging, co-organizing workshops and seminars on topics of mutual interest.
Luu Anh Tuyet (MA.)
