On the afternoon of October 17, at the Party Central Committee Headquarters, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam received British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew.
At the meeting, General Secretary To Lam expressed his delight at the positive developments in bilateral relations in recent times; affirmed that bilateral relations have developed substantially and effectively in all fields, commensurate with the level of the Vietnam - UK Strategic Partnership; highly appreciated the role of the Ambassador, contributing significantly to bilateral cooperation achievements.
Expressing his satisfaction with the positive results of cooperation between the two countries, General Secretary To Lam assessed that the relationship between the two countries still has a lot of development potential, especially in the fields of defense - security, finance - currency, education - training, science - technology, labor, energy transition, climate change response, especially culture, sports and people-to-people exchange, which have paved the way for cooperation in other fields.
General Secretary To Lam affirmed that the Party and State of Vietnam always attach importance to and pay special attention to further strengthening the Vietnam - UK Strategic Partnership to a new stage of development, meeting the expectations of the people of the two countries, for peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world.
The two sides also emphasized the importance of the pillar of economic, trade and investment cooperation. Currently, the UK is an important trade partner of Vietnam in Europe and the 15th largest investor out of 15/152 countries and territories with investments in Vietnam. Vietnam is the UK's second largest trade partner in ASEAN.
Ambassador Iain Frew thanked General Secretary To Lam for taking the time to meet; expressed his delight at the good development of bilateral relations, especially in the context of the two countries celebrating the 15th anniversary of the establishment of strategic partnership; affirmed that the UK attaches importance to developing strategic partnerships with Vietnam, considering Vietnam as one of the UK's most important partners in the region; expressed confidence that high-level delegation exchanges between the two countries in the coming time will create strong momentum, bringing bilateral cooperation to new heights, especially in the fields of national defense - security, science - technology, innovation, development of international financial centers, green growth, sustainable development, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.
The two sides affirmed that they will continue to closely coordinate in bilateral cooperation and in multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations; jointly promote peace, stability, security and cooperation in the region; and bring the Strategic Partnership into depth, effectiveness and in line with the interests of the two countries.