Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long received and worked with the British Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.

At the reception, Deputy Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Vietnam Marcus Winsley and Chairman of BritCham Denzel Eades congratulated Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long on his new assignment, sharing many common points and cooperative activities when Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to the UK during his 3-year term.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long speaks at the meeting

Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long welcomed the UK's long-term interest and investment in Vietnam, along with recent commitments to support and cooperate with Vietnam, including the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). In addition to the third largest two-way trade among European countries, the UK is also the leading investor in the Vietnamese market with a total of 567 investment projects and a total registered capital of 4.36 billion USD. The Deputy Minister emphasized that this figure is only modest compared to the real potential when large British energy corporations implement projects in Vietnam with investment capital of tens of billions of USD in the coming time, along with the prospect of attracting investment from other large British corporations to Vietnam. To achieve that, BritCham and the British business community in Vietnam play a particularly important role.

BritCham Chairman Denzel Eades and representatives of British businesses attending the meeting took turns to present their opinions on cooperation proposals and recommendations. British businesses in many fields such as energy, trade, banking and finance,education , and consulting attended the meeting, including: Standard Chartered Bank, AstraZeneca, Tony Blair Institute, KPMG Auditing Company, Unilever External Affairs Director, British University Vietnam, Grant Thornton, VPS Securities.

In the energy sector, BritCham proposed to strengthen cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to promote the investment process of British energy corporations in Vietnam, including projects of BP, Enterprise Energy, Mainstream Renewable Energy; cooperate to promote the implementation of the JETP Program. Britcham has established an energy working group, ready to cooperate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade in consulting, training, technology transfer, etc. Standard Chartered Bank, Tony Blair Institute, KPMG presented some concerns and difficulties of British investors in the Vietnamese market such as the direct electricity purchase mechanism, investment procedures. Representatives of British University Vietnam also expressed their goodwill to contribute to connecting Vietnamese universities and educational institutions with British schools, research institutes and enterprises to promote training and technology transfer in the field of renewable energy.

Responding to the UK's proposals on the energy sector, Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long proposed supporting the connection and synthesis of JETP implementation experience from countries that have implemented it such as South Africa and Indonesia, combined with the UK's expertise and experience in the renewable energy industry to contribute to a suitable JETP implementation plan for Vietnam, which not only includes investment, finance, and project implementation but also technology transfer and training of high-quality human resources in the industry.

Regarding cooperation in the field of trade, the UK proposed to continue promoting trade cooperation activities with Vietnam, promoting the implementation of UKVFTA and CPTPP, applying e-commerce and digital transformation. On the Vietnamese side, Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long suggested that the UK pay attention to and coordinate in building a system to guide and support Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the UK market, taking advantage of incentives from UKVFTA and CPTPP, focusing on areas where Vietnam has strengths such as agricultural products and furniture. The Deputy Minister also suggested that the UK introduce and create conditions for Vietnamese business delegations to participate in major fairs and exhibitions in the UK to display products and seek partners.

In addition, representatives of British businesses emphasized the need to develop trade, green and sustainable energy. The UK proposed to cooperate with Vietnam in the field of green finance, by creating conditions for financial packages promoting energy transition, green and sustainable development to be implemented smoothly in Vietnam. At the same time, the UK expressed its commitment to continue accompanying Vietnam in the process of supporting Ho Chi Minh City to become an international financial center, which has been implemented recently.

At the end of the meeting, the Deputy Minister acknowledged the comments of British businesses and suggested that these contents be included in the discussion at the 14th Meeting of the Vietnam-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO 14) for monitoring and practical and effective implementation. The Deputy Minister also suggested that the two sides actively coordinate to organize the JETCO 14 Meeting as soon as possible.

According to statistics from the General Department of Customs, the import-export turnover in the first 5 months of 2024 between Vietnam and the UK grew positively along with the general growth of the market. The total turnover in the first 5 months reached nearly 3.3 billion USD, up 23.2%. Of which, Vietnam's exports reached nearly 3 billion USD, up 26.6%. Imports reached 301.2 million USD, down slightly by 2.2%. The trade surplus reached 2.7 billion USD. Exports to the UK slowed down in recent months (April, May) compared to the first months of the year (March, April).

With the above export turnover, the UK is currently Vietnam's third largest export market in Europe, after the Netherlands (5-month exports reached nearly 5 billion USD) and Germany (5-month exports reached 3.2 billion USD).

In 2023, the total import-export turnover between Vietnam and the UK reached more than 7.1 billion USD, up 4.5%. Of which, Vietnam's exports reached more than 6.3 billion USD, up 4.6%, and imports reached 795.5 million USD, up 3.2%.

Statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment show that as of May 20, 2024, the UK had a total of 567 investment projects in Vietnam with a total capital of 4.36 billion USD, accounting for about 1% of total foreign investment in Vietnam. In the first 5 months of 2024, the UK had 17 newly licensed investment projects with a total registered capital of 126.5 million USD in the Vietnamese market. In 2023, the UK had 50 newly licensed FDI investment projects, with a total registered capital of 72 million USD. The UK currently ranks 15th out of 145 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

Source: https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/hoat-dong/hoat-dong-cua-lanh-dao-bo/thu-truong-nguyen-hoang-long-tiep-va-lam-viec-voi-phong-thuong-mai-anh-quoc-tai-viet-nam.html