(VOVworld) - Vietnam always treasures and exerts every effort to enhance its ties with the UK, said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai at a Tuesday reception for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Hanoi. Hai thanked Mr. Blair for his contributions to fostering Vietnam-UK cooperation and told the guest he is delighted at the extensive and efficient development of the Vietnam-UK strategic cooperative partnership in numerous fields. 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 Vietnam, while Vietnam has been integrating deeply and broadly into the international community. He thanked the UK Government for its official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam and asked the former PM to help Vietnam obtain preferential capital resources from multilateral channels and international development foundations to use, in particular, for climate change response, green growth, and education and training.