General Secretary To Lam holds talks with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London

Starmer affirmed that the visit marks an important milestone in strengthening the traditional friendship between the two countries.

Viet Nam is a dynamic and highly open economy that is playing an increasingly important role in the Asia-Pacific region and is among the UK's leading partners in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, stressed Starmer.

The Prime Minister expressed his desire to work with Viet Nam to advance the bilateral relationship towards a comprehensive manner, particularly within the frameworks of the UK–Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The UK Government is willing to assist Viet Nam in implementing its commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, while also encouraging British businesses to expand investment in the country, told the leader.

The UK would assist Viet Nam in carrying out the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), Starmer underlined. He expressed his hope that Viet Nam would advocate collaboration in e-commerce and financial services within the framework of the CPTPP.

General Secretary To, for his part, reiterated that Viet Nam always treasures its traditional friendship with the UK on the basis of mutual respect, mutual benefit, and a forward-looking spirit.

Viet Nam stands ready to work closely with the UK to elevate their relationship across key pillars such as politics and diplomacy, defense and security, science, technology, and digital transformation, finance and banking, education and training; environment and climate change response, as well as culture and people-to-people exchanges.

The guest underlined that as a member of ASEAN, Viet Nam is willing to act as a bridge and promote collaboration between the UK and the bloc, serving as a gateway for the UK to access the Southeast Asian market.

The two leaders held that Viet Nam and the UK have great potential for cooperation in the new phase, particularly in economic and energy transition towards green and sustainable development, digital technology industry development, and high-quality human resource training.

The host and the guest vowed to double bilateral trade turnover in the near future.

They emphasized the need to diversify cooperation, jointly address illegal immigration, and strengthen defense ties, particularly in areas related to peacekeeping forces and training.

Regarding international and regional issues of mutual concern, they underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the region, ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflights, and peacefully resolving disputes in the Asia-Pacific region, including the East Sea issue, in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

Following the talks, Viet Nam and the United Kingdom issued a Joint Statement on the elevation of the bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership./.