London (VNA) – Viet Nam-Britain bilateral relations have seen new and important development over recent years in politics, economy, culture and education, said Vietnamese Ambassador to the U.K. Tran Quang Hoan.
Ambassador Hoan told a Viet Nam News Agency reporter in London before Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’ official visit to Britain scheduled for March 3-6, that the two countries’ mutual understanding has improved greatly through the exchange of high-level delegations.
He noted that two-way trade has been growing at 20-25 percent a year and reached 2 billion USD in 2007.
Britain has become the third largest investor among EU member countries in Viet Nam , with about 1.5 billion USD, he said, adding that many leading companies like BP, BHPBilliton, Roll Royce, HSBC, Prudential, Standard Chartered Bank have chosen to make their investment in the country. Britain also one of the top donor of official development assistance for Viet Nam with an annual commitment of about 100 million USD for the 2006-2010 period.
The two countries’ educational cooperation has strongly developed. According to the ambassador about 5,000 Vietnamese students are studying in Britain , and Britain has provide about 600 scholarships to Vietnamese students and researchers.
Ambassador Hoan stressed that there are a whole host of possibilities for the two countries to expand their cooperation, especially when both Viet Nam and Britain are currently members of the UN Security Council, sharing concerns over many global and development cooperation issues.
The same time, the two sides should accelerate cultural exchange to help the two peoples improve mutual understanding, which in turn will greatly help political and economic relations, he said.
The ambassador particularly places hope on Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s upcoming visit to Britain .
He said the visit, which contains various political, economic, educational and cultural activities is a clear message from Viet Nam to British investors and businesses in particularly and the British public in general on Viet Nam’s determination in renewal and international integration and its investment promotion policy.
“The visit will markedly contribute to bringing the two countries’ multifaceted cooperation to a new height,” Ambassador Hoan affirmed.-Enditem
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