Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted leaders of ten foreign corporations and leading British universities in Edinburgh, Scotland, on October 31 (local time), as part of his visit to the UK for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).

During the meetings, Chinh maintained that despite impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Viet Nam had been highly regarded by the international community for its efforts to fulfil the dual goal of containing the outbreak and boosting economic growth, and for remaining a safe and attractive FDI destination.

Sharing concerns of foreign investors in Viet Nam over the COVID-19 fallout, the PM said the Vietnamese Government and public agencies would continue to create favourable conditions for them to grow successful and sustainable business in the long term in the spirit of “harmonising benefits and sharing risks.”

Meeting Professor Mohammed Abdel, of the UK’s University of Liverpool and principal of Switzerland’s Hume Institute for Postgraduate Studies, the Vietnamese leader asked the professor and University of Liverpool to continue coordinating with Viet Nam in training human resources and developing strategies, policies and mechanisms in response to climate change in the Mekong Delta particularly, environment protection, and emerging epidemics.

Agreeing with Chinh’s suggestion, Abdel said his university wanted to bolster specific cooperation projects with Viet Nam to produce practical results.

Meeting leaders of Oxford University, the PM said he supported the university's cooperation to help the pharmaceutical industry and improve the capacity of the health system in Viet Nam.

Talking to leaders of Rolls-Royce Group, Chinh welcomed cooperation activities with Vietnamese businesses, especially with airlines; proposed the involved parties pay attention to the field of aerospace.

Meeting President of Pacific Land Group Patrick McKillen, Chinh spoke highly of the group's projects in Viet Nam, especially Hanoi Biotech Park, which would help the country in coping with impacts of climate change and emerging epidemics.

McKillen voiced his hopes to be able to run a long-term and stable business in Viet Nam and revealed his intention to build a major hub for biotechnology studies in the country.

Chinh also had meetings with business leaders from large energy companies, including Enterprize Energy, Siemens, and JAKS Malaysia, during which he welcomed these companies to expand operation in Viet Nam and called for more private investment in developing and providing hi-tech solutions for energy projects in the country.

All the guests expressed their delight at Viet Nam’s socio-economic development and COVID-19 response, saying they hope the Government of Viet Nam would maintain and reinforce investment attraction incentives and provide all possible favourable conditions for them. — VNS