London (VNA)💮 – The Ho Chi Minh CityPeople’s Committee and the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK on October 24 held a conference on investment-trade promotion between the UK and the city in London.
Participants were informedabout the city’s updated socio-economic development situation; investmentenvironment, incentives and priority; and majorprojects that the city calling for foreign investment. They also discussed potential areas of cooperationbetween the UK and Vietnam in general and between the UK and Ho Chi Minh Cityin particular. Representatives of businesses from bothcountries also shared investment, business and trade experiences in the twomarkets and gave recommendations for each other to make use of advantages. VietnameseAmbassador to the UK Nguyen Hoang Long highlighted the achievements andprospects of implementing the Vietnam-UK Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) and theUK’s membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). He said Vietnam, as an emerging market, canbecome an important partner of the UK which has strengths in commerce,financial services, banking services, science, and education, and called onUK businesses to continue investing in Vietnam, especially in Ho Chi Minh City. Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People'sCommittee Vo Van Hoan said that the city is now prioritising digitaltransformation and green transformation, expressing his hope that businesses from both sidescan promote cooperation. British Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy forThailand, Myanmar, Brunei and Vietnam Mark Garnier said that Vietnam-UKcooperation in areas of education, health care and financial services isdeveloping well, adding that the Vietnamese marketwith a rapidly growing middle class is creating a big and interesting opportunityfor British businesses. CEO of the UK-ASEAN Business Council IanGibbons affirmed that in ASEAN, Vietnam is the country with the most developedrelationship with the UK, spoke highly of the city’ssocio-economic development achievements, and encouraged British businesses to come toVietnam to explore the market, especially in Ho Chi Minh City. Meanwhile, Chairman of the VietnameseBusiness Association in the UK (VBUK) Hoang Viet Phuong said that for furthertrade and investment cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and the UK, the twosides need to create a favourable investment environment, support market access, technology transfer and research cooperation, and strengthen the business connection network of Ho ChiMinh City and VUBK./.
VNA