The UK can share its experience in the public-private partnership model and banking and financial services development with Vietnam, Swire told Vietnam News Agency after a Vietnam-UK strategic partnership dialogue held in London on October 22.

He said his country can even help Vietnam organise international sport events, including the Asian Games (ASIAD) which will be hosted by the Southeast Asian nation in 2019.

Minister of State Hugo Swire and Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son discussed various issues ranging from Vietnam-UK ties to global trends

He revealed the UK offers plenty of investment opportunity to Vietnamese companies to operate in the country, and in turn it expects more British operations in Vietnam.

Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, who co-chaired the dialogue, noted the UK is among few countries that Vietnam has established the strategic partnership with.

Vietnam highly values the UK’s increasing role and position in addressing global issues, as well as those in East Asia and Southeast Asia, he said.

Both sides can cooperate in various areas, spanning trade investment and education which are the UK’s strong areas.

Son expressed hope the UK will continue providing its official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam to help the country achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and cope with global challenges, including climate change.  

During the dialogue, Son and Swire exchanged views on bilateral and regional issues of mutual concern, including economic prospects in ASEAN, international development aid beyond 2015, international integration and Vietnam’s foreign policy.

They touched upon issues concerning the US’s shifting to the Asia and Pacific region and the UK’s foreign policy towards Asia and ASEAN, climate change, and energy security.

They also discussed issues relating to national defence, security, organised crime, cyber crime, and migration.

This year Vietnam and the UK marked 40 years of diplomatic ties, 100 years of late President Ho Chi Minh’s first footstep in the UK, and the first ever visit to the UK by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

This was the third dialogue of this kind after both countries established the strategic partnership in September 2010.