President Vo Van Thuong (R) receives British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew on April 28. (Photo: VNA)The ambassador made the affirmation in an interviewgranted to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) ahead of Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong’strip to the UK to attend the coronation of King Charles III at the invitationof the Royal Family of the UK from May 4-6.
Following is the full text of the interview.
Reporter: How importance is President VoVan Thuong’s attendance at King Charles's coronation in the context of the twocountries celebrating the 50th anniversary of the bilateraldiplomatic ties this year?
Ambassador Iain Frew: Forthe UK, this is actually a very big moment. We haven't done this for 70 years.So I think it's a really significant moment for our country, as it is a nationalmoment and a constitutional moment. So given that, it's really significant thatPresident Thuong is going to come to the UK, alongside other world leaders, tomark this very significant occasion.
And I think in the context of the 50th anniversary ofthe bilateral relations, this is really a strong signal of how we can worktogether to deepen that relationship, and also of the potential for us todevelop different areas. I think this is a relatively early visit for thePresident in his term after his visit to Laos, and that's a particular honourfor us.
During the visit, we will see the potential for us tomark in the framework of the 50th anniversary, the areas and directions that wewant to do more together on, whether it is on trade, climate, energy, defence or security.
Reporter: The Vietnam-UK strategic partnershipis developing fruitfully, especially in education, trade and sustainabledevelopment. What can we expect from the trip to the UK by President Vo VanThuong in promoting the bilateral cooperation?
Ambassador Iain Frew: Aspart of the President's visit, and the coronation programme, he will haveopportunities to meet UK leaders and senior ministers. I'm sure that they willhave opportunities to cover some of these priority areas, and to discuss theambition that we have in the areas you've mentioned, education, sustainability,and trade. We've identified these because these are areas where we thinkthere's huge potential to do more, even though we've achieved a lot together sofar in the relationship. And alsoas part of the President's programme, he's going to have the opportunity tomeet and talk to business leaders, NGOs, and others who connect the UK andVietnam together to explore some of that potential.
It's clear from my own discussion with the President,but also with other senior leaders here at Vietnam, that the potential for usto develop education in particular is very high. UK universities and otherhigher education institutions offer a huge amount and we're delighted that somany Vietnamese students are studying and want to study in the UK. I think wecould do more to build those partnerships, and also to ensure that thepartnerships then strengthen and support the education system and developmenthere in Vietnam.
Bilateral trade between the UK and Vietnam increases by 20% to 6.4 billion GBP last year. (Photo: VNA)Ambassador Iain Frew: Thisis a very dynamic moment in the UK-Vietnam relationship. We have had some realachievements over recent years within the strategic partnership in areas suchas the UK - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. But I think if we look across theother areas of the relationship, there is a lot of potential to do more.
I start with trade. We've recently concluded thenegotiations for the UK to join the CPTPP agreement. Vietnam has been a greatsupporter of that. We have seen over the past year that bilateral trade between the UK and Vietnam has increased by 20% to 6.4 billion GBP. That's excellent,but I think we can do better still. I think we can support our companies toinvest more, to trade more. And I know that UK investors see Vietnam as ahigh growth and high potential market. This is a country that's very open toinvestments, creating a stable environment for that. And that, in turn, willsupport Vietnam's own economic growth. So I think there's a huge potential intrade and investment between our countries.
And then on the question of environment and climate. Ithink we are already doing a huge amount to help meet the high ambition of bothcountries. The Vietnamese government and leadership set a very ambitiouspathway to net zero by 2050 at the COP26 Summit in Glasgow in the UK. We haverecognised that the ambition needs to be matched partnership from theinternational community and in particular from the G7 Plus Norway and Denmark whohave joined in this Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). This is the leadingeffort and the UK is co-leading this here in Vietnam, with a declarationthat has matched 15.5 billion USD with an ambition for reform and creating a frameworkfor renewable energy investment in Vietnam. So that's commitment frominternational partners, but also commitment from the Vietnamese government toreally create the environment to bring investment, the development of renewablesector here and the energy grid in Vietnam.
And the potential here is huge. Green economy and greenjobs of the future can be created here. Investors are looking for opportunitieswhere they can access renewable energy. Consumers are looking for products thathave excellent green credentials. I think the Vietnamese government recognisesthe huge potential of this. So the UK is here supporting that. And I think that'sanother area that will continue to develop very strongly.
The final area I would mention is our defence and securityrelationship. And I think we recognise that the UK and Vietnam, in many ways,see the world similarly. We are very attached to the international rules- basedorder, to international law and important principles such as sovereignty andterritorial integrity, which leads us to take similar positions on some internationalissues, and particularly the importance of regional and international stabilityand security. Within this region, the UK has been very supportive of a free andopen Indo Pacific, that includes the East Sea being managed in a stable waythat respects countries' interests, including Vietnam's. The UK is verysupportive of international law and Vietnam's position within that in thisregard.
But I think more broadly, Vietnam and Vietnamese governmentare looking to modernise and diversify its military and defense sphere. The UKhas a lot of potential which we are beginning to see realised. That is onmilitary training, where we're cooperating in areas like peacekeeping, also, indeveloping defence industry. I think for the future, we will see more militaryexchanges, including for example, ship visits. I was delighted to welcome aRoyal Navy ship to Ho Chi Minh City in February this year.
Reporter: Thank you so much for your interview./.
VNA
