Nguyen Hong Dien
Minister for Industry and Trade of Viet Nam
During the past 50 years, the good relation and cooperation between Viet Nam and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) has been developed in almost all field. The economic is always a bright spot and on progress throughout the decades. Currently, the UK is ranked no.9 among top 10 export markets of Vietnam overall and ranked no.3 in Europe. The economic cooperation between the two countries has been increasing and making contributions to investment linkages, economic –social developments and bringing practical benefits for people of both countries.
Various government agreements have established a solid platform for bilateral cooperations in many fields especially in trade and industry. These include the UK – Vietnam Investment Promotion and Protection 2002, the Viet Nam – UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) established in 2007, the Joint Statement on the Strategic Partnership in 2010, the UK – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) in 2020. The two sides have continuously organized high-level visits, together with a series of events to promote opportunities and to help businesses connected for mutual benefit cooperation.
Trade relations
Since Viet Nam and the UK announced the elevation of their strategic partnership in 2010, the bilateral trade exchange has increase more than three times, reached USD 6.84 billion in 2022, despite of negative impacts caused by COVID-19 pandemic and recent geopolitical – economic instability.
In 2022, the UKVFTA helped the two way trade increased by 3.3%. Much of this growth were attributed to Vietnam’s key exports including coffee (up 61%), gems – precious metals (up 56%), toys – sports equipment (up 59%), footwear (up 40%), textiles (up 36%), electric wires and cables (up 30%), electronic products and components (up 28%), machinery – equipment – tools and spare parts (up 37%). Among top exports from Vietnam, telephone sets and parts recorded a trade value of over USD 1 billion.
The UKVFTA is on route to become a “highway” for businesses to reach to the other side’s markets faster and stronger thanks to its extensive tariff reduction roadmap. This Agreement creates advantages for many products of both sides to access the other side’s markets such as telephone sets, ordinary machinery, textiles, footwear, seafood, furniture, iron and steel, coffee, cashew nuts from Vietnam as well as modern machinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, leather and footwear materials, automobiles from the UK. The UK’s service sectors including finance, transport and retail are also entitled to benefit in Vietnam. Further than that, this Agreement also set up an important framework for green development cooperation in the future by the commitments to sustainable development.
Industry and Energy Cooperation
In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digital transformation, Viet Nam is accelerating its technological innovation strategy, digital transformation and supply chain diversification as well as focussing on developing foundation industries and supporting industries in order to improve the economy’s internal resources, competitiveness and production efficiency. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s industries are also making strategic shifts in production and increasing energy efficiency to promote sustainable development and contribute to better environmental protection as outcomes of Resolution 55-NQ/TW dated 11st February 2020 of the Poliburo and Vietnamese Government’s commitments of net zero by 2050 at COP26.
In order to realize this common target, Viet Nam and the International Partners Group (IPG) announced the Political Declaration of 14th December 2022 on establishing the Just Energy Transition Partnership for Vietnam (JETP for Vietnam). This declaration set out determination of Viet Nam and strong commitments of IPG to support Viet Nam in environmental protection and climate change prevention. In this regards, the Government of Viet Nam identifies green growth as the main orientation in its national strategy of industrialization and modernization to 2030 with a vision to 2045. In the process of implementing this strategy, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Viet Nam (MoIT) is willing to cooperate with the UK’s partners such as Department for Business and Trade, Departments for energy security and net zero to support projects in green energy and industrial environment as well as to promote green trade, green logistics and digital transformation.
I hope that the UK’s partners would support and share their valuable experiences in the design and implementation of energy transition projects, policy advice and human resource training for green energy. I am confident that the two sides will find numerous opportunities for investment cooperation in this field.
Green growth and sustainable development
The UK poses the 15th position among 141 countries and territories having investments in Viet Nam. British funds have invested more than USD 4 billion in about 500 projects focusing on renewable energy, finance, banking, and oil.
I am sure that the UK – Vietnam strategic partnership supported by the UKVFTA and intergovernmental cooperation mechanism such as JETCO and JETP will open up many opportunities for businesses to enhance cooperation, attract investment, and transfer technology in global trending development fields including renewable energy, environmental industry, green trade, green financial services, green logistics, digital transformation and fintech that are suitable to the conditions and level of development of each country. There are a lot of possibilities for cooperation in research, testing, mechanism building, and institution improvement for economic development associated with environmental protection.
MOIT is committed to setting up a transparent and friendly environment for business and to creatting favorable conditions for investors so that they may access resources and opportunities to run their business activities efficiently in Viet Nam.
I respectfully request the UK’s Department for Business and Trade, Department for energy security and net zero and other partners of the UK keep going along with Viet Nam’s MoIT in implementing specific programs and projects to support Vietnamese enterprises so that they can improve their management, technical capabilities and production restructure based on digital transformation, human resource development. By doing so, the UK Governmental Departments would help to further strengthen connections between British and Vietnamese enterprises, speed up their relocation and localization, enhance their competitiveness, get enterprises of Vietnam and the UK to take part more in the global production and supply chain.
I firmly believe that thanks to the attention of the senior leaders of the two countries along with the potentials, strengths, desires and needs of the businesses of the both sides, the bilateral economic and trade cooperation relation between Viet Nam and the UK will keep reaching to new heights for prosperity and sustainable development of both countries./.
