VietNamNet Bridge - Prince Andrew, Duke of York is going to visit Vietnam from October 9-13 to represent the UK at Hanoi’s 1000th anniversary years of Thang Long – Hanoi and to boost bilateral relations.

 

The Panorama of Hanoi’s 1000th anniversary

 

Prince Andrew will visit Vietnam as a guest of the Vietnamese Government. He will call on President Nguyen Minh Triet and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and will be hosted for lunch by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem.

 

Prince Andrew, who was appointed the UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment in 2001, will attend the Gala Dinner on October 9 and the parade at Ba Dinh Square on October 10 to share in the celebrations with Hanoians.

 

In Hanoi, the Duke of York will witness the opening of the British University of Vietnam and acknowledge the launch of the Duke of York Scholarship. He will also attend openings for the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (at the National Hospital For Tropical Diseases), the opening of Standard Chartered Bank’s latest branch, the opening of Savills’ new premises and receive a sector briefing ahead of an urban development round-table in HCM City.

 

In HCM City, He will meet HCM City officials, have a round-table with British companies on urban development, attend a British Community Charity Reception and meet representatives of UK companies in the financial services sector.

 

He will also meet with Vietnamese entrepreneurs and attend a luncheon with UK companies in the oil and gas sector.

 

In 2009, UK’s imports from Vietnam reached approximately US$1.8 billion and exports to Vietnam stood at about US$348 million. UK businesses are well represented by leading UK multinationals such as BP, Shell, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Prudential. UK is the third largest EU investor (after France and the Netherlands) with 126 investment projects worth US$2.22 billion as of June 2010.

 

PV