At the meeting, Ambassador Giles Lever thanked the warm welcome of Chairman Nguyen The Thao and expressed his pleasure to return to Hanoi with the new position and shared his affection and impression of the rapid growth of Hanoi recently.
Upon discussing with Chairman, Ambassador also mentioned the two issues of interest and hoped to provide assistance for Hanoi. First, the UK hopes to assist Hanoi in pure water treatment. A UK’s financial company will provide Hanoi with a loan of 350 million USD and cooperate with Hanoi’s Clean Water Company to implement this project. Second, the UK is also ready to assist Hanoi with a loan of 500 million USD to develop the urban railways No.3 in Phase 2. In addition, he also expects to widen cooperation opportunities with Hanoi in other fields in the future.
At the reception, Chairman Nguyen The Thao congratulated Mr. Giles Lever on the new position as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Vietnam and thanked for his good sentiment and interest in Hanoi, especially his suggestions. Chairman said that the support of a UK’s water company in implementing the water treatment project is a good opportunity for Hanoi. Chairman suggested cooperation following the PPP model and the two parties would continue to discuss in detail to select the most effective cooperation plan. As for Hanoi, Chairman assigned Hanoi Department of Civil Engineering as the state management body which will give advice and take charge of implementation.
Regarding the urban railway project No.3, Phase 2, Chairman said that the project’s legal procedures had been approved by the Prime Minister and was ready for the capital mobilization and partner selection. Thus, Chairman agreed with the UK’s proposed participation. By the way, Chairman also recommended the UK’s participation in the urban railway project from Noi Bai Airport to Ba Dinh Administrative Centre, which is an important and effective route for exploitation. Hereby, Chairman assigned the duty of researching and providing information for the UK to Hanoi Railway Management Unit.
In addition, Chairman expressed his hope that the UK will continue to invest and support Hanoi in other sectors, especially education and training. Also through the Ambassador, Chairman expected the Lord Mayor of London to help Hanoi build a Financial Centre. Agreeing with the Chairman’s suggestion, the Ambassador confirmed that within the framework of the Lord Mayor’s visit next October, there will be a meeting between the Lord Mayor and experts and Hanoi’s leaders so that the two parties can discuss and exchange ideas on building Hanoi’s financial centre.
