Deputy PM sanguine of growing Vietnam-UK strategic partnership

 Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai expressed his delight at the vigorous growth of the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership across the board while receiving former Prime Minister of  the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Tony Blair in Hanoi on October 19.

The UK is the leading economic partner of Vietnam in the European Union (EU). Economic and trade links between the two nations have grown steadily over recent years with two-way trade volume reaching US$3.48 billion in 2014. 

With 217 investment projects in Vietnam totally capitalized at US$ 4.43 billion, the UK ranks 15th out of 105 countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian nation.

The British Government has efficiently provided ODA for Vietnam over the past years, Hai told his guest while hoping that Tony Blair would continue to assist Vietnam to access British preferential loans through multilateral channels and international development aid funds, especially in the fields of climate change adaption, green growth, and education and training.

Regarding cooperation between the Office of Tony Blair Asscociates (TBA) and Vietnam, Deputy PM Hai welcomed the TBA Office and the Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) for having signed a cooperation agreement for the next period with a focus on three major areas: foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, State-owned enterprises (SoEs) reform, and public private partnership (PPP).

Hai also highlighted the outcome of the previous working visits to Vietnam by former British PM Tony Blair as positive impacts accelerating the implementation of  cooperation agreements between the MPI and the TBA, thus making  practical contributions to promoting the strategic partnership between the two nations.

For his part, Tony Blair said this visit aims to further the cooperation between his office and Vietnam partners, noting that the TBA pays attention to underway SoE reform in Vietnam.

He said he hopes the Government of Vietnam would create favorable conditions for specific areas of cooperation in the time to come.

VOV