Despite the volatility of the world economy, UK businesses still pay great attention to the Vietnamese market and see Vietnam as a potential market, ranked second only to BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
Cooperation in investment and trade is a key in any bilateral relationship. Therefore, in recent years Vietnam and the UK have made great efforts to promote bilateral relations in various fields, particularly in the field of investment. Investment between the UK and Vietnam has experienced strong growth since the two countries signed an agreement on strategic partnership in September 2010. Vietnam is promoting the modernisation and industrialisation to open up new investment opportunities for UK companies in Vietnam in the areas, in which the UK businesses have strengths, such as infrastructure construction, high technology, finance, agriculture and information technology.
Especially with an open legal, economic and investment system; high market growth, young population, highly qualified and hard working people, the Vietnamese market is highly appreciated by the UK investors. And indeed, for the last few years, Vietnam has always been attractive investment destination for foreign companies in general and the UK businesses in particular. A report of the Foreign Investment Department shows that by the end of June, 2013, the UK ranked 17th out of 101 countries and territories having direct investment in Vietnam, has 163 registered projects and total registered capital of approximately US$$2.7 billion.
The UK always appreciates the development of the strategic cooperation with Vietnam and continues to work closely with Vietnam to implement efficiently the agreements of the senior leaders of the two countries, particularly on economics, trade, investment, education and training.
During an official visit to the UK on January 22 – 23, 2013, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron pledged to strive to achieve the goal of increasing the UK investment in Vietnam to US$$3 billion in 2013 as a strategic partnership agreement, which the two countries signed in 2010. Specifically, the UK is committed to supporting the process of negotiating and signing the Vietnam- EU Free Trade agreement and soon recognizing the market economy status of Vietnam; in return, Vietnam is committed to improving the investment environment and creating favourable conditions for UK businesses to operate more effectively in Vietnam.
Especially, an UK business delegation accompanying Mr Lord Green, UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment has recently visited a number of projects in the Ho Chi Minh City. UK businesses have particular interests in the projects relating to financial centre, railway, and Long Thanh International Airport of Ho Chi Minh City and express desires to support and invest in these projects, thereby contributing to the economic growth of Vietnam.
The UK investors also proposed promoting the understanding and cooperation of the public private partnership (PPP) model between the two countries to promote investment in the infrastructure sector, based on the UK's long experience on planning, financing, building and operating the PPP. Besides, the representatives of the UK government also pledged to not only invest in such projects but also share experiences as well as maximize support for Vietnam in this sector.
Thanh Tan
Vietnamese
