Home

About us

Services

Partners

Recruitment

Contact

FAQs

Home

Events

AsiaInvest Connects Hanoi and Singapore Through Culture, Heritage and Long-Term Collaboration (30/9/2026)

HANOI, VIETNAM — In september 2026, AsiaInvest recently brought together partners from Singapore and Hanoi for a three-day working and field visit to explore opportunities for long-term collaboration through culture, heritage, education, tourism and people-to-people exchange.

Led by Mr Colin Goh, CEO of Millet Group, the Singapore delegation joined Mr Nguyen Ngoc Bach, Chairman of AsiaInvest, and Hanoi partners to experience some of the capital’s distinctive cultural and craft heritage and explore how these strengths could provide a foundation for meaningful collaboration between Hanoi and Singapore.

Discovering Hanoi through its living heritage

The programme brought the delegation to Chuyen My, known for its centuries-old mother-of-pearl inlay; Ha Thai lacquerware village; Xuan La village, known for traditional tò he figurine-making; and Bat Trang, one of Vietnam’s best-known ceramics villages.

Beyond the craftsmanship itself, the delegation was particularly impressed by how knowledge, skills and pride continue to be passed from one generation to another while traditional crafts adapt to contemporary life.

Reflecting on the visit, Colin Goh said the visit had enabled him to see Hanoi from a different perspective. What particularly impressed him was the depth of Hanoi’s living heritage and the communities that continue to sustain it.

His reflections captured one of the central themes of the visit: living heritage survives not simply by preserving objects, buildings or techniques, but because people continue to practise it, teach it, adapt it and pass it from one generation to another.

Building a foundation for long-term collaboration

A key milestone of the visit was the signing of a Partnership Agreement between the Singapore and Hanoi partners, establishing a foundation for long-term collaboration and the future development of joint programmes and initiatives.

Representing the Hanoi side were Madam Ha Thi Vinh, General Director of the Center of Vietnam Quintessential Handicraft and Chairwoman of the Hanoi Handicrafts and Craft Villages Association, together with several other well-established partners.

The signing ceremony in Bat Trang was witnessed by Mr Tran Anh Tuan, Chairman of the Vietnam–Singapore Friendship Association of Hanoi, who expressed his support and encouragement for the initiative and for closer connections between Hanoi and Singapore.

The partners also discussed the possibility of bringing Hanoi to Singapore through a future edition of Idea of North, not simply as a cultural showcase, but as a platform where communities, institutions and creative practitioners from both cities can interact, exchange and learn from one another.

Reflecting the Hanoi partners’ perspective, Madam Vinh expressed her hope that the visit would mark:

“a wonderful beginning for many meaningful programmes and collaborations together in the future.”

AsiaInvest as a bridge between Singapore and Vietnam

AsiaInvest played a central facilitating role throughout the initiative connecting the Singapore and Hanoi partners, identifying areas of common interest, coordinating the visit and supporting the development of the Partnership Agreement.

The initiative reflects AsiaInvest’s broader role as a bridge between Singapore and Vietnam, bringing together businesses, institutions, communities and people, and helping promising connections develop into practical and sustainable collaboration.

As Nguyen Ngoc Bach, Chairman of AsiaInvest, reflected:

“With the hope of bringing Singapore and Vietnam closer together, we have chosen culture and heritage as the starting point of our journey. We believe that culture is one of the most meaningful bridges connecting people and helping us understand and appreciate one another more deeply and building stronger and more lasting bonds between our two countries.”

Following the Hanoi visit, the partners will begin implementing a number of agreed programmes while continuing to identify new initiatives that can translate the relationships and ideas developed through the collaboration into practical and meaningful activities.

This is only the beginning. With culture and heritage as the starting point, people as the bridge, and a shared commitment to bringing Singapore and Vietnam closer together.