Deputy PM Ninh meets Lord Mayor of London

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh met Lord Mayor of the City of London Fiona Woolf on Tuesday, as part of his visit to the United Kingdom.

During the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister affirmed that Viet Nam was actively implementing economic restructuring in order to achieve sustainable growth.


He also requested the Lord Mayor to share her experiences on the healthy development of a financial system and strengthening capital mobilisation, especially through private–public partnership, as London was the world's leading financial centre.

For her part, Woolf expressed her interest in Viet Nam's banking reform policy and hoped to co-operate and share her experiences with the country in that field.

According to the Lord Mayor, the Vietnamese market was of key importance to the British investors.

The London financial district, which aims to foster investment and trade in all sectors, was ready to help Viet Nam in attracting investments and promoting exports, she emphasised.

On the same day, Deputy PM Ninh held a working session with the leaders and leading economists of the Standard Charter Bank (SCB).

The SCB's leaders thanked the Vietnamese Government for supporting the bank's effective operations in Viet Nam and expressed optimism for further support to expand in the future.

The SCB highlighted the significance of the Deputy PM's visit aimed to help the British authorities and businesses gain a better understanding about Viet Nam's polices in international integration and economic restructuring, particularly of the banking system.

The UK business community highly valued Viet Nam's efforts in curbing inflation, stabilising the macro economy, and maintaining positive growth, they declared.

The SCB was also optimistic about the country's economic development prospects after the encouraging results of banking reforms, and discussed the possibility of raising the trust index of international ranking agencies for Vietnamese banks.

The conclusion of negotiations for the EU–Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement within 2014 will send a persuasive message to foreign investors, they stated, adding that it will open up opportunities for further co-operation in trade and investment between Vietnamese enterprises and those from the United Kingdom, in particular, and between Viet Nam and the EU, at large.

Yesterday, Ninh also held talks with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, met Minister without Portfolio Grant Shapps, and shared a meeting with representatives of the Vietnamese community and staff from the Vietnamese Embassy in the United Kingdom