Vietnam, UK hold deputy foreign ministerial political consultation

Deputy FM Bui Thanh Son and Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific of the Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom Mark Field co-host the Vietnam-UK deputy foreign minister-level political consultation (Photo:VNA)

The two diplomats compared notes on specific orientations and measures to develop the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership in a more intensive, practical and effective way, especially in politics-diplomacy, security-defence, trade-investment, education-training, climate change response, and tourism.

With regard to bilateral ties, Deputy FM Son affirmed that Vietnam always places importance on fostering and developing its cooperation with the UK, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, who plays an important role in regional and global issues.

The pair consented to intensify delegation exchanges and regular meetings between the countries’ senior leaders, continue to effectively realize strategic dialogue mechanism regarding diplomacy-security-defence, and enhance collaboration at multilateral forums, especially the UN.

Mark Field, for his part, applauded Vietnam’s socio-economic development and international integration achievements in recent years, emphasizing that trade-investment cooperation remains one of the pillars in the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership.

The UK is currently one of the leading trade-investment partners of Vietnam in Europe, with two-way trade touching US$6.1 billion in 2017, up 9.5% over the previous year. During the ten-month period of 2018, the figure was US$6.2 billion, up 10.1% year-on-year.

Vietnam welcomed 283,000 UK tourists in 2017 and 276,000 during the 11 months of 2018. Both sides concurred to maintain closer collaboration to ensure the continuity of bilateral trade and investment relations after the UK leaves the European Union.

Vietnam affirmed its readiness to offer optimal conditions for UK businesses to do effective business in the country in areas of the UK’s strength and Vietnam’s demand such as energy, health and the environment.

They were of the same mind about closer educational cooperation by enhancing exchanges and connection between universities and research institutes in the future. At present, 12,000 Vietnamese are pursuing their study in the UK.

The UK official lauded recent positive developments in the cooperation between the two countries’ defence ministries while confirming his nation’s continued coordination with the Vietnamese side in effectively carrying out bilateral defence cooperation mechanisms on the basis of the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two defence ministries.

The UK will continue to support Vietnam’s engagement in the UN peacekeeping activities, he added.

Concerning security cooperation, the two sides pledged their close coordination in the fight against corruption, organized crime, human trafficking and wildlife smuggling.

Within the framework of the political consultation, Bui Thanh Son and Mark Field also exchanged their views on regional and international issues of mutual concern and underscored the importance of improving the efficiency of global administration, regional connectivity and international law.

On the East Sea issue, they underlined the need to settle disputes by peaceful means in line with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and accentuated the increasingly important role of ASEAN in maintaining regional peace and stability.