Vietnamese and British entrepreneurs signed a number of memoranda of understanding, agreements and contracts at a business forum held in London on Oct. 19.

The newly-inked contracts include a 1.5 billion USD project to build a thermo-electricity centre in the central province of Binh Dinh and another to build a seaport warehouse in the southern province of Tien Giang at a cost of 1.5 billion USD.

Addressing the Vietnam-UK Business Forum 2009, which is organised by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry in conjunction with the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai stressed that Vietnam always attaches importance to friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with the UK, especially in the fields of economics, trade, investment and education and training.

The Deputy PM also briefed the forum on socio-economic development in Vietnam, the country’s foreign policy in the renovation process and its efforts to surmount the adverse impacts triggered by the economic crisis over the past year.

For his part, British Ambassador to Vietnam Mark Kent affirmed that Vietnam is an attractive destination with huge opportunities for British entrepreneurs and the outlook for long-term investment in the Southeast Asian nation is positive.

The British Investment Promotion Agency ranks Vietnam’s investment attraction only after BRICS - the emerging market economies including Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The one-day Vietnam-UK Business Forum 2009 drew the participation of hundreds of businesses from both countries. Most British entrepreneurs attending the forum expressed their belief that long-term investment in Vietnam is a good choice.

Colin Stanbridge, the Chief Executive of London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that trade and business activities between Vietnam and the UK are expected to increase considerably in the future and that the forum represents concrete evidence to this effect./.