[The FAS Lectures] The Singapore’s Ambassador to Vietnam visited VinUniversity as the guest lecturer
Around 200 VinUniversity students and faculty, staff members attended the lecture by the new Ambassador of Singapore to Vietnam ̶ His Excellency Mr. Jaya Ratnam with the topic “Singapore & Vietnam: Forging Ahead Together”. It was his first public speech in Vietnam, after presenting his credentials to the State President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The event was part of The FAS Lectures series, where respected and renowned experts and speakers from multiple fields are invited to VinUniversity to share their views in their areas of work.
The Ambassador emphasized the importance of the diplomatic ties between Sinapore and Vietnam. Cooperation between the two has been broad-based. Vietnam has a young population coupled with a growing business environment, and thus Vietnam is Singapore’s long-term investment destination. In 2019, Enterprise Singapore expanded the Global Innovation Alliance network to Ho Chi Minh City to enable Singapore start-ups into the emerging innovation scenes in Vietnam.
COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted Singapore and Vietnam; however, every challenge is an opportunity. Mr. Jaya Ratnam saw this as an important reminder of the significance of cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore. Singapore has learned many experiences from Vietnam in handling the pandemic. Vietnam plays an important role in manufacturing and supplying test kits and medical equipments to many countries around the world, whereby Singapore has also been one of the recipients. He also expressed gratitude to Vingroup for giving 200 VFS-510 ventilators to the Singapore Embassy in Vietnam. Towards the end, he also shared how Singapore quickly adapted and coped with the pandemic by implementing a strict social distancing policy and testing regimes to minimize infection risks while trying to maintain trade activities by sea and air.
“The Ambassador’s lecture makes a real difference. I have learned what makes Singapore tick, achieving the rank of one of the global top 10 in GDP per capita despite having an area of only 730 km2. It’s also about the importance of cooperation among countries in the region, especially in the context of the ongoing pandemic”, a VinUniversity student shared her views.
