New Vietnamese Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Vu Quang Minh presented his credentials to Queen Elizabeth II on June 8.

At the reception at Buckingham Palace , the Queen said she was happy to hear about the fine development of the bilateral relationship between the UK and Vietnam , which has been elevated to higher level by signing a joint declaration to establish a strategic partnership in September 2010.

Queen Elizabeth II also told the newly-appointed ambassador that Prince Andrew, a royal member, has had positive contributions to promoting the two countries’ ties, especially in the economic and commercial cooperation.

On the occasion, Ambassador Minh conveyed the Vietnamese President’s best wishes to the Queen, as her birthday is being celebrated in Britain .

Later in the day, at a reception held at the embassy, the diplomat told participants, including ambassadors from some Asian countries and representatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and UK Trade and Investment that the two countries had witnessed fast and profound development in bilateral ties in many areas, such as trade, investment and education.

He noted that the UK now is Vietnam ’s second largest trading partner in the EU and the country is also the biggest development grant provider for Vietnam with the total aid assistance exceeding 378 million pounds.

Ambassador Minh told the guests that Vietnam was receiving increasingly interest from the UK as British Foreign Secretary William Hague said “UK shall increase her diplomatic presence” in Vietnam. Minh said Vietnam was also placed in a group of emerging powers under the newly established Department for East Asia and the Pacific of the FCO.

He also expressed his hope that the launching of direct flights between Vietnam and London scheduled for the end of this year would help the two countries “be ever closer to each other”.

Vietnam and the UK established diplomatic ties in 1973./.