The year 2011 marks an important milestone in the Vietnam-UK relationship, after both sides signed the Vietnam-UK 2011 Action Plan. This year, Vietnam and the UK will speed up joint activities in multiple areas. Both sides continue to cooperate on global and regional issues. Also this year, Vietnam and the UK are showing strong commitment to the implementation of the Strategic Partnership. On this occasion, reporter Duy Khang talks with Mr Tim Brownbill, British Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, on the relationship between the two countries.
Vietnam and the UK signed the Declaration of Strategic Partnership in 2010, how do you expect this to contribute to the cooperation both regionally and globally?
The Strategic Partnership is a basis on which to build, not an end in itself. In January, we agreed on an action plan with the Vietnamese government, with new initiatives on all seven pillars of the Partnership. Since then, there has been a programme of visits, projects, and activities in both directions showing strong commitment to partnership from both sides. The Lord Mayor of London visited Vietnam in late March to promote creative solutions for capital mobilization and infrastructure development for the country. Weeks later, Minister of State Jeremy Browne held political consultation talks with Vice Minister Nguyen Quoc Cuong in Hanoi to talk through key regional and global issues. And at the moment we are busy preparing for the visit to Vietnam by Alan Duncan, Minister for International Development. He will come to Vietnam at an important moment after the announcement of the UK’s global aid review. As you might know, as Vietnam is now a vibrant, emerging economy – a tremendous achievement – we will end our bilateral development programme in Vietnam by 2016, to redirect our aid to poorer countries that will need it more. We hope that the upcoming visit by Minister Alan Duncan will help to finalize the details of our development cooperation over the next five years.
On the other hand, we expect a high profile visit from the National Assembly and a Ministerial visit from Vietnam to the UK later this year for the first Strategic Dialogue. The two sides have a strong interest in exchanging views and sharing knowledge and expertise on diverse issues, not only at government to government, but also at regional and global levels. We are keen to engage with Vietnam, an emerging power and a key ASEAN member. As stated clearly in the Strategic Partnership agreement, both sides commit to a closer coordination in multilateral fora, including the United Nations, ASEM and ASEAN – EU, and the WTO. Both sides agreed to attach importance to a number of emerging areas such as climate change and promoting a low carbon economy; conservation and environmental protection; free trade; international development, international institutional reform, conflict prevention; non proliferation and human rights.
We believe that stronger cooperation in those areas will bring mutual benefit for both countries and peoples.
What are the milestones for Vietnam and the UK in the last 38 years since we established diplomatic relations?
The UK/Vietnam bilateral relationship has developed rapidly since the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1973. We are the leading EU partner in many areas, from development, trade and investment, and foreign policy to education and culture. There are a number of defining moments for governmental relations that I would like to highlight:
First, the visit to the UK in May 2004 by Mr Tran Duc Luong, then President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. It was the first official visit by a Vietnamese Head of State to the UK. This historic visit marked a new high point in the relationship between the UK and Vietnam. Second, the first-ever visit by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the UK in March 2008. The visit laid a firm foundation for further UK-Vietnam cooperation. During the two years from early 2008 to late 2010, cooperation expanded across key areas to pave the way for the two sides to elevate the relationship to the highest level.
In September 2010, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem and Foreign Secretary William Hague signed the Strategic Partnership Declaration. They committed to intensifying cooperation in existing areas and expanding into new ones. The Strategic Partnership provides a framework to develop the bilateral relationship in a comprehensive way, in particular for strengthening and deepening cooperation across these key areas: Political – diplomatic cooperation, Global and regional issues, Trade and Investment, Sustainable socio-economic development cooperation, Education, training, science and technology, Security and Defence, and people to people links. We also look forward to launching direct flights between Vietnam and the UK before the end of this year, and in time for the London Olympics and Paralympics!
UK is the 3rd largest EU investor and ranks 11th among 61 foreign investors doing business in Vietnam, do you think the figure is proportional to the potential?
I think there is a mismatch between actual disbursement and potential. As you may know, the year 2010 was an important year for UK and Vietnam, witnessing many visits and missions which took place in both countries during the year such as a forthcoming visit by Deputy Prime Minister Khiem to the UK in September, His Royal Highness the Duke of York’s visit to Vietnam in October on the 1000th year anniversary of Hanoi, a regional Port mission in October in Hanoi, and a very important Joint Economic and Trade Committee in London (JETCO) at the end of the year. All this plus the signing of the Strategic Partnership further strengthened the close relationship between Vietnam and the UK and showed further development and co-operation across a variety of areas.
For a number of years, UK investment in Vietnam has focused on the fields of oil & gas, insurance, and finance. I see a big potential for UK investment in Vietnam in areas such as infrastructure, education, retail, etc. Now there are many UK investors taking a look at Vietnam’s retail market. At the same time, since the JETCO4 between Vietnam and the UK took place in London, both countries set targets of doubling bilateral trade to US$4 billion by 2013 and increasing UK investment in Vietnam to US$3 billion in the same period. These are ambitious but achievable goals.
The UK has succeeded in carrying out the public private partnership ( PPP) model, how will the UK help Vietnam implement this model?
UK and Vietnam are fully aware of importance and role of the PPP model, especially in mobilizing financial sources for infrastructure construction. Moreover, both countries agree to speed up future bilateral cooperation in this area. UK has succeeded in this model and we are willing to share our experience with Vietnam. In the near future, the UK will work with other counterparts including the World Bank to develop policies and PPP models appropriate for Vietnam. At the same time, the UK will also consider training courses on PPP for Vietnamese officials and provide technical assistance for PPP capacity building projects in Vietnam. PPP is going to be crucially important for Vietnam’s infrastructure development, particularly as Vietnam’s middle income status will see the phased withdrawal of donor aid over the coming years. The UK aspires to be Vietnam’s PPP partner of choice in this important area. We are always ready to help Vietnamese companies in their efforts to enter the UK markets, and provide guidance on EU regulatory issues.
Vietnamese
