Vietnamplus

An online dialogue on policies and markets held on October 6 offered Vietnamese and UK enterprises an insight into the opportunities and challenges in trade and investment ties between the two nations following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Vietnam and the United Kingdom are speeding up negotiations on a new-generation free trade agreement between the two sides, which is expected to be completed at the end of this year.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on September 30 received Greg Hands, Minister of State for Trade Policy in the Department for International Trade of the UK and President of Enterprize Energy Group Ian Raymond Hatton, who are on a visit to Vietnam to promote an offshore wind power project in the central province of Binh Thuan.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc received UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State Dominic Raab in Hanoi on September 30.

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh held talks with UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State Dominic Raab in Hanoi on September 30, during which they agreed on joint efforts towards a higher level of the bilateral strategic partnership.

Vietnam, as a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), is willing to share information about and its experience in participating in the pact with the UK if the latter is interested, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang.

A 40-year-old Irish haulier pleaded guilty at Old Bailey Court on August 28 to the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in the back of a refrigerated lorry in Essex, the UK last October.

The British Embassy in Vietnam has run a communications campaign in Hanoi throughout July to raise awareness about the dangers of human trafficking, in response to World Day against Trafficking in Persons on July 30.

Indonesia and the United Kingdom (UK) agreed to complete the Joint Trade Review (JTR) this December to improve the economic relations between the two countries, an Indonesian official said on July 21.

Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung held online talks with Nigel Adams, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development of the UK, on July 16.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab expressed their belief that the relations between Vietnam and the UK will be expanded and enhanced in the time ahead, during their phone talks on July 13.

The UK media has run articles highlighting the hospital discharge of a British pilot – known as Patient 91 and the most seriously ill COVID-19 case in Vietnam who spent more than two months on life support in the country before returning home on July 12 (London time).

The Embassy of Vietnam in the UK handed over 135,000 antimicrobial face masks to authorities of London and Wales on July 2 (local time) to support the fight against COVID-19.

Alexandru Hanga, on June 26, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration in a case linked to 39 Vietnamese migrants who were found dead inside a lorry in Essex, the UK, last October.