Vietnamplus

UK Prime Minister David Cameron visited the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia on July 27, becoming the first acting British PM to visit the bloc’s headquarters to cement the economic relationship between the UK and the dynamic region.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has granted an exclusive interview to VietnamPlus, the online newspaper run by the Vietnam News Agency, ahead of his upcoming visit to Vietnam slated for July 29-30.

The official visit to Vietnam by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) David Cameron from July 29-30, the first-ever by a British Prime Minister, is expected to intensify and deepen the two countries’ strategic partnership that has grown in recent years.

Vietnam and the UK set up their diplomatic ties on September 11, 1973. In 2010, the two nations decided to establish a strategic partnership, focusing on seven cooperative areas, namely politics-diplomacy, regional and global issues, trade and investment, development cooperation, education-training and science-technology, security-defence, and people-to-people exchange.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged loans upto 1 billion GBP (1.6 billion USD) to Indonesian infrastructure projects during his meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Vietnam and the UK posted 1.32 billion GBP worth of trade revenue within the first five months of 2015, climbing seven percent from 2014 according to the Vietnam Commercial Office at the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK.

Exports of tra fish to the UK rose 43 percent in value in the first six months compared to the same period last year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai and UK Ambassador to Vietnam Giles Lever mentioned joint cooperation in climate change response during their meeting in Hanoi on July 21.

Vietnamese shrimp exports to the United Kingdom have registered a strong growth even as shrimp exports to the European Union have been registering a declining trend since early this year.

The Vietnam Union of Friendship Associations and the Vietnam-UK Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City (VUFA) jointly held a ceremony on June 10 in the southern city to mark the 89th birthday of UK Queen Elizabeth II.

Vietnam and the UK signed a government-level memorandum of understanding on the Newton Programme Vietnam in Hanoi, on June 3.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Head of the Government Steering Committee on Crime Prevention, urged relevant agencies to verify the news report published in The Guardian newspaper that 3,000 Vietnamese children were trafficked to the UK and forced to engage in illegal activities.

Cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and UK partners will help consolidate the friendship between Vietnam and the UK and lift bilateral relations to a new level, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan said.

The Vietnamese Embassy to the UK is working closely with relevant agencies to verify the news that 3,000 Vietnamese children were trafficked into cannabis production in the UK as reported by The Guardian newspaper.

The 125th birth anniversary of late President Ho Chi Minh (May 19) was celebrated at a ceremony held by the General Association of Vietnamese Cambodian People on May 18 in Phnom Penh.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on May 15 sent congratulations to his counterpart David Cameron on the latter’s re-election as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK).

Howard Limbert, Head of a group of scientists from the UK, said they will open a large-scale search effort for new caves in Vietnam’s central province of Quang Binh.