Hanoi (VNA) – Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc received UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth andDevelopment Affairs and First Secretary of State Dominic Raab in Hanoi onSeptember 30.

PM Phuc welcomed the UK minister’s officialvisit to Vietnam at a time when Vietnam and the UK are celebrating the 10thanniversary of their strategic partnership.

Vietnam always considers the UK as a leadingpartner in Europe and the world, he affirmed, expressing his delight at thegreat strides in bilateral relations in the recent past.

PM Phuc spoke highly of the outcomes of the earliertalks between the UK minister and Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Pham BinhMinh, especially the issuance of the “Joint Declaration on the Vietnam-UKStrategic Partnership: Forging Ahead for Another 10 years”, which specifies thevision and cooperation orientations in certain fields.

He emphasised that the UK is a big trade partnerof Vietnam in Europe, suggesting the two countries to soon finalise, sign andenforce a bilateral free trade agreement so as to seize cooperation chances andsupport their post-pandemic growth recovery.

Vietnam always creates favourable conditions forUK investors and enterprises to enter the country to do business, capitalise ontheir advantages, and meet Vietnam’s development demand, he noted.

The Government leader affirmed the readiness tocontinue working with the UK to step up COVID-19 prevention and control,especially medicine and vaccine development, and facilitate all people’s accessto them at a suitable cost.

The PM also hailed the cooperation between thetwo nations at multilateral forums and proposed them keep coordination,particularly when Vietnam is serving as ASEAN Chair in 2020 and a non-permanentmember of the UN Security Council in 2020-2021.

For his part, Raab said his visit to Vietnam ispart of the UK Government’s policy on expanding ties with countries in theAsia-Pacific region.

The UK treasures and wishes to further intensifycooperation with Vietnam, he said, adding that it also hopes to coordinateclosely with the Southeast Asian country in promoting connections between theUK and the region and in settling urgent global issues.

He also informed his host about the measures thecountries’ officials had agreed on to strengthen ties in economy, trade,investment, development cooperation, education-training, science-technology,clean energy, and sustainable development so that the strategic partnershipwill live up to its potential and both sides’ aspirations.

Raab congratulated Vietnam on successfullycurbing the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the UK highly values its stature androle in the region and the world.

The two countries have maintained and will keepclose cooperation at multilateral forums, the UN Security Council, and otherinternational organisations, he said, voicing his hope that both sides willwork together to prepare for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) to beheld in the UK in 2021.

The UK supports Vietnam and ASEAN’s stance onthe need to maintain peace, stability and security, resolve disputes viapeaceful measures, and comply with international law, especially the 1982 UNConvention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the official added.

On this occasion, the UK minister conveyed PMBoris Johnson’s invitation to PM Phuc to pay an official visit to the UK. Thehost leader also asked Raab to convey his invitation to his UK counterpart tovisit Vietnam at a suitable time./.