On the afternoon of April 6, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received the Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Vietnam Iain Frew.
At the reception, the Prime Minister expressed his pleasure at the positive progress in bilateral relations in the past time, reflected in the record high bilateral trade turnover in 2025, effective cooperation between the two sides in security - defense, climate change response, education - training, and sharing experiences in building an international financial center in Vietnam.
The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to strengthening relations with the UK, and welcomes the UK's positive contribution to the region, and the coordination between the two countries within the ASEAN and United Nations frameworks.
The Prime Minister welcomed the establishment by the two countries of the Highest Partnership framework - Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on the occasion of General Secretary To Lam's official visit to the UK.
Appreciating the positive contributions of Ambassador Iain Frew as well as the British Embassy in Vietnam in promoting bilateral cooperation to achieve many important results, the Prime Minister said that the space for cooperation between the two countries is still very large and proposed that the two sides strengthen comprehensive cooperation, especially in the fields of trade - investment, finance, education - training, science - technology, defense - security, energy transition and climate change response, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchanges; creating visa facilitation for Vietnamese citizens, initially visa exemption for diplomatic passport holders.
Ambassador Iain Frew highly appreciated Vietnam's socio-economic and foreign affairs development achievements in the context of challenges posed by the world and regional situation; affirmed that the UK is ready to contribute to the efforts to implement Vietnam's sustainable development goals in the coming time, especially green transformation, digital transformation, and energy transformation.
The Ambassador thanked the Prime Minister personally for always accompanying and giving specific orientations for strongly promoting Vietnam-UK relations in the past time; agreed to actively coordinate with Vietnamese ministries and sectors to promote the effective implementation of the contents of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework and the results of General Secretary To Lam's visit to the UK.
The Ambassador agreed with the Prime Minister's proposal to continue to strengthen delegation exchanges at all levels, especially high-level, across all channels to strengthen political trust; The UK continues to cooperate and support Vietnam in developing an international financial center; expand training cooperation between universities of the two countries and promote making English the second language in schools in Vietnam, thereby contributing to strengthening cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, creating favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the UK to integrate well, playing a role as a bridge of friendship and contributing to promoting cooperation between the two countries.
Regarding cooperation within the multilateral framework, the two sides agreed on the importance of strengthening dialogue in respecting international law to maintain peace and stability in the region and in the world, including ensuring freedom and security, maritime and aviation safety in the East Sea, a sea area that plays an extremely important role in international trade.
