The UK has agreed to provide technical assistance for Vietnam to improveits capacity of policy-making and monetary policy management as well asmanagement of the commodity market through training courses, exchangeof experts and professional discussions.
This is part of agreements reached at the fifth meeting of theVietnam-UK Joint Economic-Trade Committee (JETCO 5) that took place inHanoi on Nov. 4 with the aim of boosting the bilateral trade relationson a par with the strategic partnership between the two countries.
The UK will also assist Vietnam in negotiations on a VoluntaryPartnership Agreement under the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governanceand Trade (FLEGT).
In addition, the two sides areto continue discussing the possibility of negotiating and signing anagreement on recognition each other’s sailor certification.
Under the co-chair of Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and TradeTran Quoc Khanh and Edward Oakden, Managing Director of the UK Tradeand Investment Agency (UKTI), the meeting took notes of cooperationresults since JETCO 4, highlighting the continuous development ofbilateral economic trade relations, Vietnam Airlines’ opening of directair routes from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to London in December thisyear and the UK Embassy’s enhancement of its capacity in granting visasfor Vietnamese citizens at peak times.
TheVietnamese side updated the latest positive developments in itsPublic-Private Partnership (PPP) programme and explained Notice 197and the draft revision of Decree 40 on liquor trading in response tothe UK’s concerns.
The two sides discussedmeasures to solve difficulties for UK businesses while operating in theVietnamese market, including issues relating to the Hong Kong-ShanghaiBanking Corporation (HSBC) and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), thegranting of investment licence to Tata Steel Corus and the renewal ofthe mining licence of ARC-Vinacomin joint venture.
Vietnam and UK set the targets of doubling their 2010 two-way tradeand bringing the UK ’s investment in Vietnam to 3 billion USD in2013./.