Lee's visit highlights ties

Lee's visit highlights ties

HANOI (Reuter): Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew arrived in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday for a visit to Vietnam that underlines growing business and political ties.

Heading a team of 18 Singaporean businessmen, Lee is scheduled to meet government officials in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's economic powerhouse, and nearby Song Be province, where Singapore is considering a site for an industrial zone.

He is also expected to meet national leaders in Hanoi later this week and to visit two Singaporean property developments in the capital.

Lee's delegation included executives from Singaporean property, manufacturing, transport, financial and trading firms, Singapore's Trade Development Board said earlier.

The visit underlined Singaporean business interest in Vietnam and government ties that will be reinforced next July when Vietnam joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Singapore was one of the founders.