UK Prince Andrew received by Deputy PM

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem warmly welcomed Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, in Hanoi on October 11. The prince had previously been in Vietnam four times in 1999, 2006, 2008 and 2009.

The prince’s visit is the UK’s first high-level visit to Vietnam since the two countries established their strategic partnership in September 2010.

Prince Andrew, the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, also represented the British government at Hanoi’s grand millennial ceremony.

During the meeting, Mr Khiem, who is also Vietnam’s foreign minister, affirmed that Vietnam will boost its comprehensive and strong strategic partnership with the UK, especially in trade, investment, education and training.

He expressed pleasure that the UK has become Vietnam’s leading economic partner and pledged that the Vietnamese government will create the most favourable conditions for British enterprises to expand their investment and operate on a long-term basis in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Prince Andrew said he was happy to be in Vietnam to attend Thang Long-Hanoi’s 1000th anniversary and witness the huge changes in Vietnam over the past years. He promised to contribute more to bilateral relations in the future.

Vietnam wishes to learn from EP experiences

The Vietnam National Assembly wants to strengthen exchanges and learn from the experiences of the European Parliament (EP), especially law-making skills and improving the capacity of deputies.

The statement was made by NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong while receiving the President of Germany’s Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Institute, Prof. Dr. Hans-Gert Poetterin, who was former EP President for the 2007-2009 period, in Hanoi on October 11.

She suggested the two sides strengthen dialogues in order to improve understanding about each other’s situation and issues of common concern.

As ASEAN Chair, Vietnam totally supports and actively contributes to regional and global efforts to minimise the negative impacts of climate change, she stressed.

For his part, Prof. Hans-Gert Poetterin said the EP is ready to share experiences with Vietnam and expressed wish to strengthen cooperation with the Southeast Asian country in areas of both sides’ interest.

Australia applauds ADMM+ in Hanoi

Measures put forwards at the national defence ministers and officials’ meetings will help to consolidate confidence between the countries, said Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith, in a short meeting with the media in Hanoi on October 12 on the fringes of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+). 

Regarding the importance of the ADMM+, Mr Stephen said that ASEAN is important to Australia and the country was ASEAN’s first partner when they both established relations 30 years ago.

The ADMM+ is also of great significance to ASEAN and the bloc’s eight dialogue partners, including Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States. The ten ASEAN nations along with their partner nations will hold meetings at head of state and foreign minister and defence minister levels in the future. This will contribute substantially to ensuring security and peace in the region, said the Australian defence chief.

Mr Stephen also congratulated Vietnam on its ADMM+ Chair and thanked Vietnam for having invited Australia to the meeting.

Earlier on October 11, Australia and Vietnam signed a Memorandum of Understanding cooperation in defence matters, which is testimony to both countries’ efforts to boost bilateral ties in this field.

Mongolia seeks co-operation with HCM City

The Mongolian capital city of Ulan Bator wishes to establish co-operation with Ho Chi Minh City to exchange experiences in construction and development as well as in the operation of the HCM City People’s Council.

The Chairman of Ulan Bator’s People’s Council Bilegt Tudev made the statement at a meeting with Chairwoman of HCM City People’s Council Pham Phuong Thao, in HCM City on October 11.

During the meeting, the two leaders agreed on the need to boost co-operation between localities of Vietnam and Mongolia, including the multifaceted co-operation between HCM City and Ulan Bator.

Thao said the Vietnam visit by the Ulan Bator delegation on the occasion of the 1,000 anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi was an opportunity to strengthen traditional friendship between two peoples, states and localities of the two nations.

She stressed the desire for HCM City and Ulan Bator, as big cities with strong economies, to bolster cooperative relations, matching the traditional friendship and co-operation of the two countries.

For his part, Bilegt Tudev said although Mongolia-Vietnam relations have developed for a long time, the co-operation between the two localities is still far from reaching their potential.

He also spoke highly of beefing up cooperation with Vietnamese cities, especially HCM City, named after the late President Ho Chi Minh, whose name was so familiar to Ulan Bator’s citizens.

VNN/VOV/VNA