Prime Minister Lee in Vietnam for industrial park anniversary

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Sunday September 24, 2006

Singapore- Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong headed Monday to Vietnam to attend 10th-anniversary celebrations for the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP). His two-day visit to the country is at the invitation of Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung, who will also attend the celebrations Tuesday.

According to Lee's agenda, he and Dung will witness the signing of a commitment letter by SembCorp Industries and Vietnamese state-owned enterprise Becamex IDC Corporation to develop a second industrial park.

The government-to-government VSIP was launched in 1996, 17 kilometres north of Ho Chi Minh City. It has been profitable since 2002.

Singapore is currently Vietnam's largest foreign investor, with 425 projects worth 7.9 billion US dollars, up from the fifth spot in 1996.

The VSIP is already operated by SembCorp and Becamex. The 230 companies in the industrial park hail from 22 countries, including the United States, Japan and Singapore, manufacturing a range of products from vitamins to electronics.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur