(VOVworld) – Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong on Tuesday began an official state visit to the United Kingdom at the invitation of British Prime Minister David Cameron. This is the first time the British government has invited a Secretary General of a foreign country’s political party. Mr. Trong’s visit promotes bilateral political ties, increases mutual trust and understanding between Vietnam and the UK, and drives forward the bilateral strategic partnership relations.

Foreign Secretary William Hague

Vietnam and Britain established diplomatic ties on September 11, 1973. Britain is one of the European countries to have strong economic, trade, and investment cooperation with Vietnam. It has always prioritized official development assistance for Vietnam and is the first bilateral sponsor in the world to have committed to providing ODA for Vietnam until 2015. The funding for Vietnam will be aimed at special needs areas such as poverty reduction, climate change réponse, education and training, and anti-corruption. In September 2010, the two countries set up a strategic partnership and over the past three years, this cooperation has been implemented via the Strategic Dialogue and Joint Economic and Trade Committee, and developing annual action plans. Both have agreed on the need for increasing the exchange of delegations at all levels, regular meetings among state leaders, enhancing cooperation among National Assemblies, ministries, provinces, in multilateral forums and major international organizations including the UN and the Asia – Europe Meeting.

In the UK’s strategy toward Southeast Asia, Vietnam’s importance and potential í apparent. Last April, British Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Vietnam. This was the first visit of a British Foreign Secretary to Vietnam for over 17 years. He affirmed that Vietnam is a country with vast potential and a key friend of the UK in South East Asia. The press release by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office wrote that the Strategic Partnership signed by both nations in 2010 demonstrates the UK’s commitment to working with Vietnam both bilaterally and in the wider regional and international context, because Vietnam plays an increasingly important role on the global stage.  In this context, the visit by Party leader Trong is expected to be a significant milestone towards revitalizing bilateral relations. British Ambassador to Vietnam, Antony Stokes, anticipates the important visit: ‘The Secretary General comes as the guest of the British government. It’s not a party-to-party visit. It’s a Secretary General visit at the invitation of the Prime Minister. What we called a guest of government visit which is the most senior level of visit, high level of visit apart from the segment. We also be scheduling other big visits, I hope, during the year, subjecting to the planning going well, one of them I can confirm is the first ever visit by Astor British Defense Minister to Vietnam.

On top of trade and investment, Mr. Trong and British leaders will discuss measures to boost cooperation in public – private partnerships, moving toward to establish an international university in Da Nang City, and improve cooperation in anti-corruption. With regard to national defense, both will talk about ways to boost cooperation through an official dialogue channel, weapon trading, and academies and institutes... Ambassador Antony Stokes explains further: ‘It’s significant because it comes during the 40^th year. This year also the 20^th of anniversary of the British council being opened and now we are seeing another strong push between the two governments. We both want a different sort of relationship. We’ve had two year of the strategic partnership so this is the 3^rd year, this is a year when I think the relationship getting more meaningful, closer, deeper and broader’.

Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to the UK aims to continue implementing Vietnam’s external relations policy comprehensively. It will be a key milestone in the Vietnam – UK relations to expand multifaceted cooperation with the UK. 

Anh Huyen