(VOVworld) - President Tran Dai Quang on Sunday afternoon began his three-day State visit to Singapore at the invitation of President Tony Tan Keng Yam.

President Tran Dai Quang talks to overseas Vietnamese in Singapore (Photo: Viet Cuong/VOV)

Immediately after arriving in Singapore, President Quang had a meeting with staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives from the overseas Vietnamese community. He praised the Embassy’s efforts in implementing the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies. Mr. Quang added in the next 5 years, Vietnam aims to achieve a GDP growth rate from 6.5% to 7%.

President Quang reiterated Vietnam’s unswerving policy of respecting overseas Vietnamese’s love for their homeland. He said he hopes the embassy staff and the Vietnamese community in Singapore will stay united and work harder to contribute to the friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

Vietnam and Singapore have seen their relations flourishing with regular exchanges of visits, high-level contacts, and expanded cooperation between Party, State, National Assembly, and government agencies. Bilateral cooperation in economics, defense, education, transport, tourism, finance, law and other areas have been developing. Singapore is now Vietnam’s 3^rd largest trade partner in ASEAN and 8^th in the world. Two-way trade increased drastically, reaching 16.22 billion USD in 2015.