Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn and British Ambassador to Việt Nam Iain Frew had talks on Monday in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn hosted a reception in Hà Nội on Monday for British Ambassador to Việt Nam Iain Frew, during which he hailed the latter for actively promoting bilateral activities over the past years.

Minister Sơn said the signing and enforcement of the UK-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement has made the UK the third largest trade partner in Europe and the ninth largest export market of Việt Nam and the most important European investor in the country despite impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

He asked Frew to continue facilitating the exchange of all-level delegations, effectively implement bilateral cooperation mechanisms and work closely with Vietnamese partners to hold activities celebrating the 50th founding anniversary of Việt Nam-UK diplomatic ties this year.

The host suggested both sides maintain effective cooperation in traditional areas such as trade - investment, education - training, national defence - security while expanding collaboration in new fields where the UK has strength and Việt Nam has development priorities such as green growth and climate change adaptation.

Sơn spoke highly of the UK's role in promoting the building of a Just Energy Transition Partnership framework between Việt Nam and international partners. He proposed the UK continue assisting Việt Nam in terms of experience, technology transfer, green finance and human resource development in this field.

Frew, for his part, affirmed that with its policy towards the Indo-Pacific region, the UK attaches great importance to developing its relations with Việt Nam on the basis of political trust, close cooperation at multilateral and regional forums, solid economic relations and rich potential for cooperation in the future, especially in new fields and development trends of the world, including sustainable energy transition and climate change response.

To improve the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation, the ambassador vowed to work closely with the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other ministries and agencies to build practical cooperation plans in the coming time. — VNS