Lee and Maria da Silva were on working trips to Viet Nam, during which they attended a seminar on the role of Southeast Asian political parties in building the ASEAN Community, held within the framework of the third ASEAN Future Forum (AFF), which took place in Ha Noi from June 7–9.
Huan said the meeting served as vivid evidence of the strong friendship and cooperation between the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) and the two parties, as well as between Viet Nam and the two countries.
Lee and Maria da Silva expressed their admiration for Viet Nam's dynamic development in recent years and voiced their confidence that the country would continue to achieve further successes in the near future.
Lee highly valued Viet Nam's initiative in organising the seminar, describing it as a practical activity that enabled political parties to exchange experiences, deepen mutual understanding, and make meaningful contributions to the building of a people-centred ASEAN Community.
Commending Singapore’s model of economic development, social welfare provision, and efforts to improve living standards, Huan said these offered valuable and practical lessons that the CPV could study and learn from. He called on the Singaporean Government to continue supporting Viet Nam in human resources development, particularly in training leadership and management personnel and strategic-level officials. This includes cooperation in cadre training between the HCMA and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, as well as other partner institutions in Singapore.
Huan proposed relevant agencies of the two countries work closely to effectively implement high-level agreements between the two parties, enhance delegation exchanges and regular dialogue mechanisms between party leaders, including the organisation of the first Viet Nam–Singapore strategic dialogue, and strengthen cooperation in cadre training, scientific research, and exchanges among strategic research institutions and scholars.
The head of the Fretilin delegation said Viet Nam serves as a model for Timor-Leste to follow. He stressed that Fretilin attaches great importance to and wishes to strengthen its traditional friendly ties with the CPV, while also seeking to learn from Viet Nam’s experience in building an independent and self-reliant economy and attracting foreign investment.
Huan emphasised that Viet Nam always values its friendship and cooperation with Timor-Leste and the country’s major political forces, including Fretilin. He highly appreciated Fretilin’s historic role in Timor-Leste’s struggle for national independence, as well as in the cause of national development and construction.
He expressed his confidence that Fretilin would continue to make positive contributions to Timor-Leste’s stability and sustainable development, as well as to peace, cooperation, and development within the Associations of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
