Vietnam and the UK set up their diplomatic ties on September 11, 1973. In 2010, the two nations decided to establish a strategic partnership, focusing on seven cooperative areas, namely politics-diplomacy, regional and global issues, trade and investment, development cooperation, education-training and science-technology, security-defence, and people-to-people exchange.
In recent years, the two countries have conducted a number of high-level delegation exchanges, including UK visits by National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in December 2011, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in January 2013 and Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh in April 2014.
Visits to Vietnam have also been made by UK leaders such as the Duke of York Prince Andrew in 1999, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013; Secretary of State William Hague in February 2012, and former PM Tony Blair in 2012, 2013 and July and October 2014.
During an official UK tour in March 2008, Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung and his UK counterpart Gordon Brown issued a joint statement on the partnership for development which stated the resolve to foster bilateral relations in a result-oriented and stable manner.
The UK supported Vietnam’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and is currently the top European trade partner of the Southeast Asian country.
Vietnam’s exports to the UK increased by 20 percent annually and reached 4.5 billion USD in 2014. It has also continually enjoyed trade surpluses with the UK in recent years.
Vietnam’s key exports to the European nation include seafood, fruits and vegetables, cashew nuts, tea, coffee, plastic and rubber products, handbags, wallets, bamboo and rattan products, wood products, apparel, footwear, computers and electronic components.
With hundreds of UK trade representative offices and business branches in Vietnam, the UK also set up the British Business Group in Vietnam (BBGV) in 1998 in order to boost its economic relations with and charity activities in Vietnam.
The Joint Economic and Trade Commission was set up to devise measures to strengthen economic, trade and investment ties. It has convened seven meetings rotating between Hanoi and London so far.
UK companies first began operations in Vietnam in 1988 and initially spent 70 percent of their investments in oil and gas. At present, the UK’s investments cover various realms such as banking, finance, manufacturing, services and garment.
Most of the UK investment projects are small- and medium-sized, operating in mining, processing, manufacturing, property, banking, and financial and insurance services.
By the end of June 2015, the UK had 206 valid projects with a total registered capital of 3.19 billion USD, ranking 16 th among 103 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
Major British businesses present in Vietnam include BP, BHP Billiton, Rolls-Royce, Vodafone, P&O, GlaxoSmithKline and Prudential. The UK’s HSBC and Standard Chartered are the first wholly foreign-owned banks to be set up in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Vietnam is running 11 projects worth 10.8 million USD in the UK in tourism, restaurants, food and drink, sport services and art galleries.
The UK Government has been a provider of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam since 1994. After the countries signed an agreement on the development partnership for 2006-2015, the UK Government gave Vietnam a non-refundable aid of 250 million GBP (388.9 million USD) between 2006 and 2010. About 70 percent of the sum was channelled into poverty reduction programmes and the rest financed educational, medical, clean water, rural hygiene and anti-corruption initiatives.
In 2011, the two sides inked a supplementary document to the development partnership agreement. Accordingly, the UK pledged to supply 70 million GBP (108.9 million USD) in non-refundable assistance for Vietnam from 2011 and 2015. The support is designed to help Vietnam realise the Millennium Development Goals and objectives for primary education, HIV/AIDS prevention, environmental hygiene and climate change.
Bilateral cooperation in education-training has also been growing, as seen in the number of Vietnamese students in the UK reaching 11,000 and 32 joint training programmes between their educational establishments. The UK Government also grants 25-30 scholarships for Vietnamese students each year.
Since the UK visit by PM Nguyen Tan Dung in 2008, scientific and technological cooperation has seen big improvements. In 2013, the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and the UK Embassy in Hanoi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperating in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Last June, MoST Minister Nguyen Quan and British Ambassador to Vietnam Giles Lever signed a governmental-level MoU on research collaboration and innovation partnership (Newton Programme Vietnam) to boost economic development and social welfare in Vietnam.
The Southeast Asian country has also welcomed an increasing number of UK tourists, from 70,000 in 2004 to over 202,000 ten years later.
Vietnamese people in the UK currently number more than 40,000 and have integrated well into the local community.
The Vietnam visit by PM David Cameron is intended to discuss measures and directions to deepen the nations’ strategic partnership and tap potentials for stronger cooperation, especially in the fields of investment, modern science-technology, finance-banking, education-training and defence.
The two sides will also review ways to enhance their collaboration and mutual support at international forums and organisations.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
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Visits to Vietnam have also been made by UK leaders such as the Duke of York Prince Andrew in 1999, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2013; Secretary of State William Hague in February 2012, and former PM Tony Blair in 2012, 2013 and July and October 2014.
During an official UK tour in March 2008, Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung and his UK counterpart Gordon Brown issued a joint statement on the partnership for development which stated the resolve to foster bilateral relations in a result-oriented and stable manner.
The UK supported Vietnam’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and is currently the top European trade partner of the Southeast Asian country.
Vietnam’s exports to the UK increased by 20 percent annually and reached 4.5 billion USD in 2014. It has also continually enjoyed trade surpluses with the UK in recent years.
Vietnam’s key exports to the European nation include seafood, fruits and vegetables, cashew nuts, tea, coffee, plastic and rubber products, handbags, wallets, bamboo and rattan products, wood products, apparel, footwear, computers and electronic components.
With hundreds of UK trade representative offices and business branches in Vietnam, the UK also set up the British Business Group in Vietnam (BBGV) in 1998 in order to boost its economic relations with and charity activities in Vietnam.
The Joint Economic and Trade Commission was set up to devise measures to strengthen economic, trade and investment ties. It has convened seven meetings rotating between Hanoi and London so far.
UK companies first began operations in Vietnam in 1988 and initially spent 70 percent of their investments in oil and gas. At present, the UK’s investments cover various realms such as banking, finance, manufacturing, services and garment.
Most of the UK investment projects are small- and medium-sized, operating in mining, processing, manufacturing, property, banking, and financial and insurance services.
By the end of June 2015, the UK had 206 valid projects with a total registered capital of 3.19 billion USD, ranking 16 th among 103 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
Major British businesses present in Vietnam include BP, BHP Billiton, Rolls-Royce, Vodafone, P&O, GlaxoSmithKline and Prudential. The UK’s HSBC and Standard Chartered are the first wholly foreign-owned banks to be set up in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Vietnam is running 11 projects worth 10.8 million USD in the UK in tourism, restaurants, food and drink, sport services and art galleries.
The UK Government has been a provider of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam since 1994. After the countries signed an agreement on the development partnership for 2006-2015, the UK Government gave Vietnam a non-refundable aid of 250 million GBP (388.9 million USD) between 2006 and 2010. About 70 percent of the sum was channelled into poverty reduction programmes and the rest financed educational, medical, clean water, rural hygiene and anti-corruption initiatives.
In 2011, the two sides inked a supplementary document to the development partnership agreement. Accordingly, the UK pledged to supply 70 million GBP (108.9 million USD) in non-refundable assistance for Vietnam from 2011 and 2015. The support is designed to help Vietnam realise the Millennium Development Goals and objectives for primary education, HIV/AIDS prevention, environmental hygiene and climate change.
Bilateral cooperation in education-training has also been growing, as seen in the number of Vietnamese students in the UK reaching 11,000 and 32 joint training programmes between their educational establishments. The UK Government also grants 25-30 scholarships for Vietnamese students each year.
Since the UK visit by PM Nguyen Tan Dung in 2008, scientific and technological cooperation has seen big improvements. In 2013, the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and the UK Embassy in Hanoi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperating in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Last June, MoST Minister Nguyen Quan and British Ambassador to Vietnam Giles Lever signed a governmental-level MoU on research collaboration and innovation partnership (Newton Programme Vietnam) to boost economic development and social welfare in Vietnam.
The Southeast Asian country has also welcomed an increasing number of UK tourists, from 70,000 in 2004 to over 202,000 ten years later.
Vietnamese people in the UK currently number more than 40,000 and have integrated well into the local community.
The Vietnam visit by PM David Cameron is intended to discuss measures and directions to deepen the nations’ strategic partnership and tap potentials for stronger cooperation, especially in the fields of investment, modern science-technology, finance-banking, education-training and defence.
The two sides will also review ways to enhance their collaboration and mutual support at international forums and organisations.
