British Ambassador to Vietnam, Mark Kent, hosted a press conference in Hanoi on August 28 to announce forthcoming events to commemorate 35 years of UK - Vietnam diplomatic relations. He was accompanied by Keith Davies, Director of British Council Vietnam.
Ambassador Mark Kent emphasised the ever-strengthening relationship between the UK and Vietnam, which was consolidated by the first-ever visit by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the UK in March 2008.
“The visit was a great success and laid a firm foundation for further UK- Vietnam co-operation”, said Ambassador Mark Kent at the conference. “In their joint declaration, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Gordon Brown agreed to work together on five priority areas: trade and investment; development (including good governance, accountability and rule of law issues); international issues (including reform of international architecture, Security Council co-operation and climate change); education and tackling illegal migration and organised crime”.
The Ambassador announced a number of high-level visits and forthcoming events, which will mark the 35th anniversary of UK – Vietnam diplomatic relations, including: a visit by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, KG, The UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, to Vietnam in the week of 8 September 2008; a visit by the British Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw, to Vietnam in the week of 8 September 2008; visits to the UK by senior officials of several Vietnamese ministries in September and October 2008; and a photo essay competition entitled The UK and Vietnam: people-to-people links, jointly organised byBBC Vietnamese and the British Embassy. The results will be announced in early September.
Director of British Council Vietnam, Keith Davies, also highlighted a number of forthcoming events this year to mark 15 years of the British Council’s presence in Vietnam.
In early August, DFID approved grant aid totalling 20 million GBP (around US$40 million) for the Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC) 7. This is the biggest aid for a single programme that DFID is implementing in Vietnam. The approval of this grant aid is evidence of the UK Government’s commitment towards Vietnam's continued sustainable development.
On August 27, 2008, DFID and the Government of Vietnam conducted the annual review of their Development Partnership Arrangement (DPA). The DPA outlines joint commitments between the two governments, and is supported by the UK Government’s annual financial support of 50 million GBP to Vietnam for a ten-year period of 2006 - 2015.
British companies are already among the largest EU investors in Vietnam, with total investment worth around US$1.9 billion in 105 projects, and bilateral trade is worth over US$133.7 million in 2007.
After the PM meeting in March, the UK and Vietnam have discussed a package of measures to tackle illegal migration from Vietnam to the UK as well as to increase the number of returns. A package of support will be provided for relevant departments of Vietnam under the Return and Reintegration Fund Scheme of the UK to implement those measures. (British Embassy Release)
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