Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam Pham Quang Hieu and UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office Minister for Asia Amanda Milling. (Photo: Baoquocte)

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam Pham Quang Hieu and UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office Minister for Asia Amanda Milling co-hosted the eighth Vietnam-UK Strategic Dialogue in Hanoi on March 28, VOV reported.

The two sides discussed specific measures to promote the Vietnam-UK Strategic Partnership, especially in the fields of politics-diplomacy, trade-investment, climate change adaptation, sustainable development, development cooperation, education-training, science-technology, security-defense, and people-to-people exchanges.

They affirmed that the Vietnam-UK Strategic Partnership has been developing positively, in line with the spirit of the September 2020 Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

With the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak being gradually brought under control, the two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations at all levels and soon resume cooperation mechanisms such as the Policy Dialogue at the Deputy Minister of Defense level and the UK-Vietnam Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO).

They vowed to work closely together to organize meaningful and diverse activities in various fields such as trade & investment promotion, tourism, as well as the organization of cultural events, and people-to-people exchanges to mark 50 years of bilateral diplomacy in 2023.

Hieu underlined Vietnam’s determination to realize its commitments given at the COP26, saying that the country is preparing to carry out many solutions to curb greenhouse gas emissions using national resources and the support from the international community. He asked for the UK’s assistance in accessing financial resources to help Vietnam realize its commitments.

An overview of the dialogue (Photo: VNA)

Milling affirmed that the UK stands ready to accompany Vietnam in implementing the commitments with support for the country in emission mitigation and energy transformation. She thanked Vietnam for supporting the UK to become a full dialogue partner of ASEAN and to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

With 452 FDI projects worth over 4 billion USD, the UK is the 15th largest out of 140 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Both countries pledged to continue to work closely to make full use of opportunities generated from the UKVFTA, thus making a breakthrough in trade and investment partnership and expanding cooperation in the digital economy, energy transformation, green finance, infrastructure development, and finance banking, according to VNA.

Both sides expressed their delight at the economic achievements recorded following the enforcement of the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) a year ago, with two-way trade turnover increasing positively to US$6.6 billion last year. The UK is currently the 15th largest investor out of 140 countries and territories investing directly in Vietnam, with 452 projects valued at more than US$4 billion.

The two countries will continue to take advantage of opportunities from the trade deal and at the same time to expand cooperation in areas such as digital economy, energy transformation, green finance, infrastructure development, finance banking, they agreed.

Both host and guest welcomed positive progress in defense cooperation between the two countries over the past time, marked by the Vietnam visit in July 2021 by British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, as well as the effective implementation of the Vietnam-UK defense policy dialogue mechanism. They agreed to continue to strengthen the exchange of defense delegations and improve the capacity of Vietnamese soldiers in UN peacekeeping operations.

On security cooperation, the two sides consented to coordinate closely in the fields of migration, immigration, mutual legal assistance, extradition, prevention of organized crime & high-tech crime, anti-human trafficking, as well as cooperation in personnel training and capacity building.

The two sides agreed to continue working closely at multilateral forums and regional cooperation mechanisms. They also discussed a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern, emphasizing the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation, overflight, security, and peace in the South China Sea.

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