National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue attended a Viet Nam-UK high-level forum on economy and trade in London on June 29 (local time), as part of his ongoing visit to the UK.
With the aim of stronger economic, trade and investment partnerships between the two countries, the event drew Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, British Secretary of State for International Trade Anne Marie Trevelyan, Member of Parliament Graham Stuart (the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Vietnam), and a large number of Vietnamese and British businesses.
Addressing the event, Deputy PM Thanh highlighted important progress in the Viet Nam-UK Strategic Partnership, as well as great chances for both sides to bolster their ties through the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA).
He underlined that both sides should optimise the advantages of the deal by encouraging the promotion of the two-way trade and investment, and creating favourable conditions for enterprises of both sides to explore each other’s market and foster connection to striving for a trade value of over US$10 billion by 2023.
Thanh confirmed Viet Nam's political determination in realising commitments made at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), stressing that Viet Nam hopes the UK Government and businesses will support the country in technology, finance and human resources, especially during the process of switching from fossil fuels to green energy.
Viet Nam calls on British firms to invest more in areas of green growth, digital transformation, processing-manufacturing, finance, banking, education-training, innovation and pharmaceuticals, he said, pledging that the Government will create the best business environment for them.
For her part, Trevelyan spoke highly of the Vietnamese market, predicting that by the end of this decade, Viet Nam will become one of the 30 largest economies in the world. She affirmed that trade ties with Viet Nam play an important role in the UK’s trade policy.
The British official said she hopes the UK’s green industries will play a greater role in supporting Viet Nam in the path towards green energy, adding green finance businesses in the UK are also interested in Viet Nam.
Trevelyan said that the UK hopes to cooperate closely with Viet Nam in turning HCM City into a full financial centre through support in financial and market reform, and cooperation in digital infrastructure development, education and training.
She also emphasised that the UK wishes to increase its interaction with the Indo-Pacific region, underlining that Viet Nam plays a key role in helping the UK become the first dialogue partner of the ASEAN and foster cooperation with the region.
The official thanked Viet Nam for assisting the country to join the Comprehensive and Progress Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
At the event, NA Chairman Hue directly answered questions raised by British businesses.
Mentioning Viet Nam’s preparations to overcome challenges in 2022 and 2023 amid the changing world situation, the Vietnamese NA leader said that as an economy with a high level of openness, Viet Nam suffers from all changes in the world.
However, even in the global crisis period of 2008-2009 or in the COVID-19 period in 2020-2021, Viet Nam still maintained positive growth at 2.91 per cent in 2020 and 2.58 per cent in 2021, and maintaining strong growth currently.
While the world is facing high inflation in the first half of this year, Viet Nam managed to keep it at 2.45 per cent with stable macro balances.
Viet Nam aims to become a high middle-income country by 2030 and a developed country with high income in 2045, he said, adding that it has kept targets in its financial, budget and investment plans for the next five and ten years unchanged.
The leader underlined that the Vietnamese NA has worked to support the Government through a “soft ecosystem” with assistance in fiscal and monetary policies.
NA Chairman Hue witnessed the exchange of cooperation agreements between businesses and localities of Viet Nam and the UK.
On the same day, he had a meeting with the former Mayor of the City of London Peter Estlin, during which the Vietnamese leader proposed that the British side support Viet Nam in completing the legal framework in the field of finance and banking while helping HCM City become an international financial centre.
Viet Nam hopes to learn from other countries' experiences in different financial centres and apply the most suitable lesson, he stated.
For his part, Estlin said that the UK is willing to cooperate with Viet Nam at different levels, including between the UK Government and the ASEAN Community, including Viet Nam, especially in financial market development.
He agreed with the Vietnamese leader’s proposal on cooperation in the fields of green finance and the digitalisation of the financial market. — VNS