Party General Secretary To Lam and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a Joint Statement officially upgrading bilateral relations between Vietnam and the UK to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. (Photo: VNA/Thong Nhat)

Reporter: Welcome to the Q&A segment on VOV24/7. Ambassador, thank you for joining us.

Ambassador Iain Frew: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Reporter: Ambassador, to begin, how would you assess the development of the Vietnam–UK relations following the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership or CPTPP?

Ambassador Iain Frew: The relationship between the UK and Vietnam has reached new heights with the agreement of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This elevation came with a statement that set out 6 pillars of our relationship. We’re seeing these main areas of our cooperation from energy and education to our diplomatic cooperation, working on trade and on finance. And we’re also seeing an increasing depth of trust and understanding between the two countries. The UK's accession to CPTPP is an important milestone for Vietnam because it adds to the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in facilitating trade between our economies. We’ve already seen some really important results both from the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and from the CPTPP integration. Bilateral trade between the UK and Vietnam has, which is the latest figures, increased to 10.4 billion pounds.

British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew (Photo credit: British Embassy Hanoi)

Reporter: Energy cooperation is a key pillar in the Vietnam-UK cooperation. What do you expect from Vietnam’s energy transition, and how can British businesses engage in?

Ambassador Iain Frew: The energy transition is fundamental to all of our economic development, including Vietnam's, and the Vietnamese government has set out very clearly a green transition. Vietnam intends to shift to a very significant proportion of renewable energy, building on the solar, wind, and hydropower that Vietnam has. But Vietnam's growing economy needs more energy, and renewable energy has a very strong potential to deliver this. That's why under this partnership we’re supporting additional financing and technical assistance to accelerate the speed of adoption and rollout of renewables.

For example, under the JPP, a couple of really important deals that were reached last year include 480 million euros to finance a 1.2 gigawatt pumped hydropower storage facility. Alongside that, we've seen sharing of technical assistance to manage a grid for the increasing proportion of intermittent renewables. Transmission and generation are key priorities within this partnership.

Reporter: Vietnam is shifting toward technology-driven growth. How does the UK view this strategy and the further cooperation between the two countries in this regard?

Ambassador Iain Frew: There is a clear aim by the Vietnamese leadership, Party and government to escape the middle-income trap. And science and technology are at the heart of doing that. That means Vietnam being a user and innovator of technologies. I've seen in some specific areas really promising signs of Vietnam's capability, particularly in the digital space. There’s a lot of innovation going on. And there is very clear ambition set out in key future areas that we’re seeing – like AI and high-tech. But they also require strong partnerships. And that’s where international partners in the UK come in. Over the past decade, we've seen more than 50 really important collaborations with the UK's Newton Fund, which funds joint research projects between institutions. We now have an International Science Partnerships Fund, which is seeing UK universities and institutions and Vietnamese institutions, like Hanoi University of Science and Technology, building together important projects for new innovations and new technologies. The best innovation starts with ideas that are often generated from an academic or a partnership that’s based on that innovation.

(ChatGPT image)

Reporter: Education remains a cornerstone of cooperation. How will UK educational partnerships expand in Vietnam?

Ambassador Iain Frew: Education is fundamental to underpinning development and growth for the future. And that’s why we made education one of the six key pillars of our comprehensive strategic partnership. I'm delighted to see 12,000 Vietnamese students studying in the UK. But I also want to see more and more Vietnamese people being able to access high-quality British education as they can in schools across Vietnam and as we are increasingly seeing in university partnerships. So UK universities are building partnerships with Vietnamese institutions to offer some of their courses and some of the pathways that can involve areas where we know there’s high demand and are also very important for the future. For example, data science underpins so much of what we’re now seeing in terms of AI transformation and the potential for future growth. Alongside that, we’re seeing an important focus within the government on areas such as English as a second language. It's actually a very different shift within Vietnam's education system. That requires a high level of expertise and training, and we’re supporting both through institutions like the British Council but also through companies that have experience in doing this – in ‘how can we train the teachers?’ and ‘how can we give access to the students through new tools, including AI-enabled tools, to be able to develop their English rapidly?’

Reporter: Vietnam’s diplomacy has been elevated as a national priority after the 14th National Party Congress. How does this influence bilateral cooperation?

Ambassador Iain Frew: The development of diplomacy in Vietnam, being elevated and on a par with security and defence as key national priorities, is very natural and very important. Vietnam is being very active internationally. Right now, Vietnam is the UK's country coordinator within ASEAN, and we have worked very well with Vietnam in ASEAN, but I see that this diplomacy is showing, within ASEAN and the region, and more globally, a more active voice from Vietnam. And for the UK, we see a very strong partner, a partner with a growing voice, and one that we want to work with on a wide range of issues around peace and security, some of the global challenges, development and climate, and where Vietnam is making a real contribution.

Reporter: Finally, what are your expectations for Vietnam-UK cooperation in the coming years?

Ambassador Iain Frew: I'm full of optimism, because our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership sets a framework of ambition for – not next year, not in two years' time, but in 10 or 20 years. Ho Chi Minh City has launched the International Financial Centre and the UK has been supporting and working with Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance, and the cities of Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang on this really important strategic national project, sharing our own experience of what it means to develop a financial center, the choices available to Vietnam, and ensuring that we bring expertise to the table to share on financial institutions, and I want to ensure that our countries grow together.

Reporter: With stronger connectivity under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and CPTPP membership, bilateral ties between Vietnam and the UK are expected to expand further in the years ahead. Thank you, Ambassador Iain Frew, for joining VOV24/7.

Ambassador Iain Frew: Thank you. I wish the Vietnamese people and your audience a very warm, a very happy, and a very healthy New Year. Chúc mừng năm mới!