Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Davos on the evening of January 30 for Hanoi, concluding his working trip to Switzerland.

Before leaving, Mr Dung met with the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, who handed over his special letter extending greetings to Vietnamese people on their upcoming lunar New Year festival. He said he hopes that cooperative relations between the UK and Vietnam will develop further and Vietnam will successfully chair ASEAN in 2010.

Prince Andrew and PM Dung expressed pleasure at the positive development of the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries in recent times. They said despite the global financial crunch, the economic, trade and investment ties continued to grow and flourish in 2009, with two-way trade reaching US$2 billion and the British investment in Vietnam fetching over US$2 billion.

PM Dung proposed that Prince Andrew, as a senior UK representative in trade and international investment, provide continued support for Vietnam and encourage UK businesses to invest in Vietnam.

He said he hopes Prince Andrew will create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses and commodities to penetrate the UK and the European Union so as to raise two-way trade value to US$3 billion and the UK investment in Vietnam to the same amount in the coming years.

Prince Andrew put forward measures to increase bilateral cooperation in trade and investment and proposed that the two countries’ relevant ministries and agencies discuss cooperation in education, including the building of an UK university in Vietnam.

Mr Dung invited the Prince to re-visit Vietnam and attend celebrations to mark Hanoi’s 1,000th anniversary. He also conveyed his invitations to the Queen and the British Prime Minister to visit Vietnam.

VietNamNet/VOV