Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and UK Minister of State for the Foreign and Common Wealth Office Hugo Swire expressed their mutual satisfaction with the development of the two countries’ bilateral cooperation and close coordination at international forums and organisations, especially the United Nations (UN), the Asia-Europe Meeting, and the ASEAN-EU framework. On the path to global economic integration, both sides renewed their commitment to expeditiously conclude negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the EU, which is expected to open new opportunities for both business communities.
Recognising Vietnam’s progress in fulfilling the UN Millennial Development Goals, the UK will taper off its supply of aid to Vietnam by March 2016, but continue providing aid packages through the EU and multilateral mechanisms such as the World Bank and the UN. The Vietnamese side thanked the UK for its support in reducing poverty and facilitating sustainable development in the country. The two governments acknowledged the valuable experience gained from the 20-year development partnership as useful for Vietnam’s socio-economic development and social policy building in the time to come.
Both host and guest hailed the establishment of the Vietnam-UK Research Institute to promote post-tertiary research to international standards, and agreed to further improve English training in Vietnam and launch a transparent and fair legal framework for UK education providers.
The two sides welcomed the operation of the Newton Fund in Vietnam - a partnership programme on research and innovation and emphasised their wish to sign a memorandum of understanding this March on creating a framework for cooperation in this field.
The UK confirmed that that it will submit the Intended National Determined Contributions Report as scheduled and urged Vietnam to do the same. Vietnam, meanwhile, spoke highly of the UK’s assistance in developing the Calculator 2050 model. Vietnam hailed the UK’s role as the leading donor to Vietnam’s anti-corruption fight and hopes to continue working bilaterally in this field.
On this occasion, they urged the design of the Vietnam – UK 2015 Action Plan and signed a memorandum of understanding on allowing relatives of diplomatic representative staff to seek paid jobs in the host country.
