Lord Mayor boosts ties

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung promised that the country would create favourable conditions for UK businesses to invest in various fields of the economy. The pledge was made during last week’s Viet Nam visit by the Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael Bear.

The PM also expressed his hope that the mayor would help expedite plans to establish a new financial and commercial centre in Ha Noi in the future.

HCM City People’s Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan also invited British businesses to take part in building the Thu Thiem financial centre and called for assistance in the training of financial personnel, especially for the HCM City Stock Exchange and banks.

Bear said British businesses were keen on getting involved in Viet Nam’s huge development programmes and ready to share experiences to help implement public-private projects. They were also interested in assisting with the construction of a financial and commercial centre in the capital city, he said.

He said the UK would focus its assistance on infrastructure development through the public-private partnership (PPP) model because the country has gathered a lot of experience with it in many sectors over the last 50 years, including transportation, healthcare and water supply. Viet Nam could also expect assistance in improving its banking and insurance services, he said, adding education and training are other areas with potential for more co-operation.

During the mayor’s visit to the Viet Nam Commodity Exchange (VNX), general director Nguyen Duy Phuong hoped to benefit from the sharing of knowledge and experiences in operating the exchange, which stated operations in January. He also sought connections with related businesses and commodity exchanges elsewhere for future development.

The mayor advised VNX to focus on ensuring the three Cs – cash, creativity and commodity – to tap the growing global market.

Businesses in the Square Mile (City of London) could not only bring capital, but also technical expertise and management know-how to share with Vietnamese partners, he said. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam UK cooperation