Vietnam will continue to be one of Singapore's major markets for trade and investment in Southeast Asia, the city-state's Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang said Thursday.

He assured this when he made a speech at a naming ceremony of a new rig "PV Drilling I" built by Singapore company Keppel FELS for Vietnam.

He pointed out that building of Vietnam's first fully-owned rig provided further vindication of the strong bilateral commercial ties.

Singapore has been seeing the potential in Vietnam over the years. Today, Singaporean investors are involved in almost every sector of the Vietnamese economy from the oil and gas industry to property, food and beverage industry, as well as constructing wastewater treatment plants, Lim said.

Statistics issued by the Trade and Industry Ministry show that trade between the two countries rose by 8.64 percent to 11.3 billion Singapore dollars (about 7.4 billion U.S. dollars) last year, making Singapore Vietnam's 4th largest trading partner.

Likewise, the Vietnamese market plays an important role in Singapore's economy. With 8.7 billion Singapore dollars (about 5.7 billion U.S. dollars) worth of exports last year, Vietnam is Singapore's 14th largest export market.

Source: Xinhua