Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai thanked former Prime Minister of the Great Britain and North Ireland Tony Blair for his contributions to fostering Vietnam-UK cooperation, while welcoming him in Hanoi on March 3.

Hai told the guest that he is delighted at the extensive and efficient development of the Vietnam-UK strategic cooperative partnership in numerous fields, affirming that Vietnam always treasures and exerts every effort to enhance the ties.

The UK is now one of Vietnam’s leading economic partners in the European Union, ranking 16th out of the 101 nations and territories investing in the country, while Vietnam has been integrating deeply and broadly into the international community.

He thanked the UK Government for its official development assistance (ODA) provision for Vietnam, wishing the former PM to help Vietnam access preferential capital resources from multilateral channels and international development foundations to use, in particular, for climate change response, green growth and education and training.

For his part, Blair expressed his hope that the Vietnamese Government will make it easier for UK enterprises to intensify investments in the country.

VNA