Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh with representatives of British business leaders. (Photo: Tran Hai)

On the morning of June 28, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held a discussion with British businesses investing in Vietnam. Also attending were representatives of leaders of central ministries and branches; British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew.

The discussion took place in the context of the increasingly strong Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and the UK, demonstrating the strong commitment of both sides to building an innovative, sustainable and inclusive future. This is an important forum, serving as a platform for open discussion on policy priorities and long-term cooperation orientations in key areas such as finance, sustainable development, digital transformation,education and health.

Representing British businesses, Mr. Nitin Kapoor - Vice President of Regional and International, Vaccines and Immunizations of AstraZeneca Group, Chairman of AstraZeneca Vietnam - expressed his sincere thanks to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and reaffirmed the long-term commitment of British businesses in Vietnam: "The UK and Vietnam are two strong partners with a common vision: a prosperous, comprehensive and sustainable future. Today's exchange has helped us better understand Vietnam's development orientation and further trust in the potential for cooperation between the two sides. We look forward to continuing to accompany Vietnam on its upcoming development journey."

British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew expressed that, in the context of the two countries celebrating 15 years of Strategic Partnership, the UK side is very pleased to lead a large business delegation, share with senior leaders of the Government, discuss in depth the directions of cooperation. Thereby, the two sides deepen this relationship to join hands to support Vietnam on its ambitious journey towards the goal of becoming a high-income country by 2045, the vision of a new era of development that Vietnam set out in Resolutions 57, 59, 66 and 68 is completely similar to the strategic strengths of the UK.

Representatives of British corporations and businesses attended the Dialogue. (Photo: Tran Hai)

British businesses, with their deep expertise from a knowledge and services-based economy, believe they are ideally placed to support Vietnam’s transformation. They bring their expertise and skills, and believe that their contribution will be of value to Vietnam.

The UK highly appreciated the Vietnamese Government as well as the central role of the Prime Minister in creating a favorable business environment, promoting innovation, transparency and sustainable growth, especially in the context of Vietnam carrying out extensive reforms of the administrative apparatus at all levels.

The Ambassador wanted to share the commitment of the UK and the business sector to support Vietnam in realizing its aspirations and ambitions of double-digit growth, building a modern, self-reliant economy to achieve high-income status by 2045. The Ambassador said that the UK's priorities are, firstly, on digital transformation, British businesses have deep expertise in the technology sector, from FinTech to cyber security.

The second is green transition. UK businesses want to play a part in the transition to renewable energy and help Vietnam achieve its Net Zero targets by 2050. The UK is also co-leading the $15.5 billion JETP programme to directly support these targets.

Third, science and technology. The two sides have effective cooperation in the fields of medical research, artificial intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution. The foundation for these successes is our leading education sector, with effective cooperation models that we have seen from primary to university levels between the two countries.

Fourth is finance. Since late 2022, the British government has funded a project to support Vietnam's ambition to build an international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

In all of these key areas, British businesses are making a significant contribution to Vietnam’s development. The UK welcomes Vietnam’s commitment to continuously improving its business environment and attracting high-quality FDI and will continue to work with Vietnam.

As we look to the future, we will continue to support British businesses operating in Vietnam, and attract new investors to Vietnam. The Ambassador urged both sides to continue to build a modern, self-reliant and 21st century partnership, contributing to an ever closer bilateral relationship.

UK Ambassador to Vietnam Ian Frew delivered the opening speech at the Dialogue. (Photo: Tran Hai)

By the fourth quarter of 2024, bilateral trade between the two countries reached £8.1 billion, of which the UK imported £6.8 billion worth of goods from Vietnam and exported £1.3 billion worth of goods to Vietnam. The trade and investment services sector also grew continuously. The UK's service exports to Vietnam reached £446 million, accounting for 2.0% of Vietnam's total service imports.

By 2023, total UK direct investment in Vietnam will reach £1.3 billion, with a focus on renewable energy, finance, healthcare and transport. This figure reflects not only the strong trade relationship between the two countries but also the UK’s confidence in the growth potential of Vietnam’s economy.

The UK business community continues to affirm its long-term commitment to the Vietnamese market. There are currently more than 400 UK businesses operating in Vietnam, ranging from multinational corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises. Large companies such as HSBC have been operating in Vietnam for more than 155 years, Standard Chartered for more than 120 years. Other businesses such as Prudential, Unilever, AstraZeneca, KPMG have also marked 30 years of continuous operation and positive contributions to the Vietnamese economy. These strong partnerships are testament to the UK’s long-term vision of Vietnam as a strategic destination for high-quality investment, innovation and sustainable growth.

Speaking at the seminar, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh conveyed General Secretary To Lam's warm regards and best wishes to the British business community investing, doing business and living in Vietnam. The Prime Minister assessed that the Vietnam-UK relationship has a good tradition and has never been better than now; proposed cooperation to build a Vietnam-UK strategic partnership; and research to upgrade the relationship in the coming time to a higher level so that the two sides have a better political foundation and promote cooperation in other fields.

The Prime Minister thanked the UK for always accompanying and supporting Vietnam in difficult times, especially when facing global issues, especially the UK has supported Covid-19 vaccines, specifically AstraZeneca vaccines for Vietnam in the most difficult times. Therefore, in the coming time, we need to promote cooperation, especially taking advantage of the Vietnam-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) (UKVFTA) to promote investment and trade to reach double-digit milestones in the coming years.

The Prime Minister suggested that the UK has strengths in technology, services and finance, so it will continue to invest in this field, especially when Vietnam becomes an international financial center, contributing to the wealth and prosperity of the two countries, contributing to building a peaceful, stable, cooperative and developing environment for the two countries, the two regions and the world, thereby promoting international solidarity and upholding multilateralism.

The Prime Minister shared Vietnam's vision of becoming an industrialized country with an upper middle income by 2030 and a developed country with a high income by 2045, and therefore hoped that the UK would support Vietnam in achieving this goal. The Prime Minister hoped that the Tony Blair Institute would support Vietnam in this regard.

From there, the Prime Minister mentioned Vietnam's actions, which are to build three pillars: building socialist democracy; building a socialist rule-of-law state; building a socialist-oriented market economy. Vietnam takes people as the center, subject, driving force, and resource for development, not sacrificing progress and social and environmental justice to pursue purely economic growth; social justice is equal access to education and health care, leaving no one behind. On this occasion, the Prime Minister thanked the UK for having many projects supporting Vietnam's development in this field.

UK Ambassador to Vietnam Ian Frew delivered the opening speech at the Dialogue. (Photo: Tran Hai)

Vietnam identifies the economy as the central task, all activities of the country focus on serving economic development; building and developing, bringing the country into a new era - the era of the nation's rise to become strong and prosperous. Party building is the key, enhancing the capacity and fighting strength of party organizations and party members; identifying cadre work as the key of the key. Building an independent, autonomous foreign policy, diversifying and multilateralizing international relations for the goal of cooperation and development. Implementing the "4 no's" defense policy.

Building a culture imbued with national identity, culture is an endogenous strength, "If culture exists, the nation exists, if culture is lost, the nation is lost". Building the country's development path based on Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought and 4,000 years of historical and cultural traditions imbued with national identity in new conditions.

The Prime Minister believes that it is necessary to connect the two cultures of the UK and Vietnam. Nationalize human civilization, including the UK, into Vietnam; internationalize the culture imbued with national identity of Vietnam to the world, including the UK. Implement progress, social justice, and social security. Build a stable, long-term, and sustainable business environment for enterprises. Implement 3 strategic breakthroughs including institutional breakthroughs, contributing to reducing input costs for people and enterprises. Breakthroughs in infrastructure, including transportation infrastructure, reducing logistics costs, and increasing product competitiveness. Breakthroughs in human resource training to meet the human resource needs of enterprises.

The Prime Minister hopes that UK businesses will cooperate with Vietnam, and that both sides will work together to deepen and realize the increasingly effective and in-depth Strategic Partnership, upgrade the relationship, and create a solid foundation for economic relations. Effectively exploit mechanisms, FTAs, and other cooperation mechanisms. The goal is to connect the two economies effectively, closely, and complement each other better, raising trade turnover to 10 billion USD; and British investment in Vietnam to more than 10 billion USD.

The Prime Minister called on the UK and British businesses to make 6 breakthroughs: Breakthroughs to connect the two economies more closely, more substantially, more effectively on the principle of market cooperation for mutual development, with mutual benefits. Breakthroughs to implement the Fourth Industrial Revolution in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, database building, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain. Breakthroughs focusing on green transformation, combating climate change, implementing Net Zero for Vietnam by 2050. Breakthroughs in the fields of health, education, culture, sports, especially helping Vietnam make English the second language, expected to be applied from the next school year for all levels. Breakthroughs in finance and banking, whereby the UK supports Vietnam with financial and banking services, helping to build an international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang as well as a free trade zone. Breakthrough in connecting Vietnamese enterprises to the global value chain, building Vietnamese science and technology "unicorns".

Mr. Nitin Kapoor - Vice President of Regional and International, Vaccines and Immunizations of AstraZeneca Group, Chairman of AstraZeneca Vietnam spoke at the seminar. (Photo: Tran Hai)

Making breakthroughs to create new momentum, new impulses, new inspirations. Vietnam commits to continue creating a business environment in accordance with international practices and the laws of the two countries; protecting the legitimate rights and interests of businesses and foreigners in Vietnam, including the UK; building stable, long-term policies for investors to have long-term investment strategies in Vietnam. Ensuring freedom of business, property rights, and ensuring fair competition are core elements. Always listen, understand, share difficulties, and work together to solve difficulties in the spirit of harmonious interests and shared risks.

Regarding the harmonization of institutions and procedures between Vietnam and international practices, between Vietnam and the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister is actively directing ministries and branches to research and handle this matter, creating the most favorable conditions for administrative procedures such as recognition of signatures, pharmaceuticals, etc. This is cooperation for mutual development, respect, recognition of each other's achievements; sharing visions, coordinating actions, winning together, developing together, enjoying joy, happiness, and values ​​for both sides.

The Prime Minister suggested that both sides coordinate to make use of their intelligence, time, and decisiveness at the right time for mutual development. The Prime Minister affirmed that “nothing is impossible”, the issue is whether both sides have the determination, the way to do things, understanding, and sharing with each other? What is good must be promoted faster and more effectively; what is inadequate must be resolved; cooperation must be faster and more effectively.

The Prime Minister thanked British businesses for their valuable contributions to the Vietnamese Government, ministries and sectors; and stated that the Government and British businesses need to meet regularly to review and adjust work in a spirit of openness, listening with sincerity, trust, understanding and mutual respect. The Prime Minister wished British businesses success in Vietnam. The Vietnamese Government is committed to ensuring security, safety and ensuring the development of businesses more and more effectively.

According to nhandan.vn

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-toa-dam-voi-cac-doanh-nghiep-anh-quoc-155152.html