Minister Nguyen Hong Dien worked with former British Prime Minister and Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for ...

At the meeting, Mr. Tony Blair appreciated the role of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in promoting economic and trade exchanges between Vietnam and partners around the world, including the UK, and wished to discuss how the TBI Institute could support the Ministry of Industry and Trade in implementing its priority activities, especially in the fields of taking advantage of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and energy development.

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien congratulated the achievements that TBI has achieved since its establishment, and acknowledged the positive developments in bilateral economic and trade relations between Vietnam and the UK in recent times through the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) and recently the UK's accession to the CPTPP.

Regarding the exploitation of FTAs, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien shared two important priorities of the Vietnamese Government in the coming time: building a set of indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of FTA implementation in localities (FTA Index) and building an FTA exploitation ecosystem. The Minister asked Mr. Tony Blair and the TBI Institute with a team of prestigious and highly specialized experts on a global scale to support the Ministry of Industry and Trade in effectively implementing these priorities. Regarding energy, the Minister welcomed the ideas and goodwill of Mr. Tony Blair and said that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is ready to coordinate with the TBI Institute to carry out activities in line with the interests and desires of both sides.

Mr. Tony Blair highly appreciated the sharing and suggestions of Minister Nguyen Hong Dien and agreed with the Minister to assign technical staff of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and TBI Institute to continue to closely coordinate to concretize the contents of exchange and cooperation in the coming time.

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