Hanoi (VNA) – National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue attended the Vietnam-UK high-level forum on economy and trade in London on June 29 (local time), as part of the leader’s ongoing visit to the UK.

Aiming to seek stronger economic, trade and investment partnership between the two countries, the event drew Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, Britain Secretary of State for International Trade Anne Marie Trevelyan, and MP Graham Stuart, UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Vietnam, and a large number of Vietnamese and Britain businesses.

Addressing the event, Deputy PM Thanh highlighted important progress in the Vietnam-UK Strategic Partnership, as well as great chances for both sides to bolster their ties from the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA).  

He underlined that both sides should optimise advantages from the deal by encouraging the promotion of the two-way trade and investment, and creating favourable conditions for enterprises of both sides to explore each other’s market and foster connection, thus striving for a trade value of over 10 billion USD by 2023.

Thanh affirmed Vietnam's high political determination in realising commitments made at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), stressing that Vietnam hopes the UK Government and businesses will support the country in technology, finance and human resources, especially during the process of switching from fossil fuels to green energy.

Vietnam calls on Britain firms to invest more in areas of green growth, digital transformation, processing-manufacturing, finance, banking, education-training, innovation and pharmacieuticals, he stated, pledging that the Government will create a best business environment for them.

For her part, Trevelyan spoke highly of theVietnamese market, predicting that by the end of this decade, Vietnam willbecome one of the 30 largest economies in the world. She affirmed that tradeties with Vietnam play an important role in the UK’s trade policy.

The Britain official said she hopes UK’s green industrieswill play a greater role in supporting Vietnam in the path towards green enegy, adding green finance businesses of the UK are also interested in Vietnam.

Trevelyan said that the UK hopes to cooperateclosely with Vietnam in turning Ho Chi Minh City into a full financial centre throughsupport in financial and market reform, and cooperation in digital infrastructure development,education and training.

She said the UK wishes to increase its interaction with the Indo-Pacific region,underlining that Vietnam plays a key role in helping the UK become the firstdialogue partner of the ASEAN and foster cooperation with the region.

The official thanked Vietnam for assisting the countryto join the Comprehensive and Progress Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

At the event, NA Chairman Hue directly answered questions raised by Britainbusinesses.

Mentioning Vietnam’s preparations to overcomechallenges in 2022 and 2023 amid the changing world situation, the VietnameseNA leader said that as an economy with a high level of openness, Vietnam suffersfrom all changes in the world.

However, even in the global crisis period of2008-2009 or in the COVID-19 period in 2020-2021, Vietnam still maintainedpositive growth at 2.91% in 2020 and 2.58% in 2021, and is growing stronglycurrently, manifesting Vietnam’s great efforts. Particularly, while the worldis facing a high inflation in the first half of this year, Vietnam managed tokeep it at 2.45% with stable macro balances.

Vietnam aims to become a highmiddle-income country in 2030 and a developed country with high income in 2045,he said, adding that it has kept targets in its financial, budget andinvestment plans for the next five and 10 years unchanged.

The leader underlined that the Vietnamese NA hasworked to support the Government through a “soft ecosystem” withassistance in fiscal and monetary policies.

On the occasion, NA Chairman Hue witnessed the exchange ofcooperation agreements between businesses and localities of Vietnam and the UK.

The same day, he had a meeting with Acting Mayor of the City of London PeterEstlin, during which the Vietnamese leader proposed that the British side supportVietnam in completing the legal framework in the field of finance and banking, while helping HCM City become an international financial centre.

Vietnam hopes to learn from other countries’experience and different financial centres and apply most suitable ones, hestated.

For his part, Estlin said that the UK iswilling to cooperate with Vietnam at different levels, including between the UKGovernment and the ASEAN Community, including Vietnam, especially in financialmarket development.

He agreed with the Vietnamese leader’sproposal on cooperation in the fields of green finance and the digitalisationof the financial market./.