Vietnam hopes to receive further cooperation and experience from the UK in such fields as finance, banking, the building of financial centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as personnel training for finance and banking sector, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has said.

He made the remarks while meeting with visiting Lord Mayor of the City of London Alderman David Wootton in Hanoi on September 24.

Dung praised the outcome of working sessions between Wootton and Vietnamese agencies during his visit, saying that the visit will contribute to strengthening multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, especially in areas of finance, securities, banking and insurance.

Wootton said his visit aims to further promote the cooperation between the two countries in finance and banking. The accompanying UK businesses have special interest in the Vietnamese market and consider it an attractive investmet destination, he said.

The Mayor praised Vietnam’s flexible response to the global economic recession and its effective and synchronic policies in managing the macro economy, finance and currency as well as controlling inflation. This has created favourable conditions for and increased trust of foreign investors, he added.

Wootton affirmed that the UK hopes to further cooperate with Vietnam in areas of audit, securities and public-private cooperation.

Earlier the same day, Wootton attended a conference on legal framework of public-private partnership (PPP) held by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the City of London.

Speaking at the event, Minister Bui Quang Vinh said that Vietnam is focusing on developing infrastructure and calling for investment.

Therefore, the country wants to speed up PPP cooperation and to learn experiences from the United Kingdoms in infrastructure development in the PPP form.

Wootton said that for the documents that will expire in 2013, the two sides should continue negotiating to create a legal basis to encourage the cooperation between businesses, thus contributing to the economic development of the two countries.

He also expressed his hope that the business links forged between Vietnam and the UK will realise the two countries’ ambitions of raising two-way trade to 4 billion USD by 2013 and increasing UK direct investment in Vietnam.

During the event, delegates also focused on the UK’s experiences in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects and lessons for Vietnam, and the situation of PPP pilot projects in the country.-VNA