British Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary pays courtesy visit to Nghe An province

On the side of the delegation were Mr. Ian Frew - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to Vietnam, and members of the delegation.

Receiving and working with the delegation, on the side of Nghe An province, there was comrade Bui Dinh Long - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, along with leaders of departments, branches and sectors..

Speaking at the reception, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long expressed his pleasure at welcoming the delegation of the British Embassy in Vietnam and the UK Home Office to visit and work in Nghe An in the context of the strategic partnership between the two countries developing well in all fields in recent times. In particular, at the end of October, the UK Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Ms. Catherine West, co-chaired the 10th Vietnam - UK Strategic Dialogue, demonstrating the interest and determination of both sides to promote cooperation areas.

In June 2024, a working delegation led by the Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee also visited and worked in the UK and achieved many good results. During the visit and work in the UK, the Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee met and discussed with the Newhaven Town Government to promote a number of bilateral activities. In particular, the two sides agreed to cooperate in rearranging the exhibition space of President Ho Chi Minh at the Newhaven Maritime Museum. Nghe An Province supported part of the cost and presented Newhaven with an art painting of President Ho Chi Minh to display at the Museum.

Working with Mr. Ian Frew and the British Embassy delegation, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long introduced the basic features of Nghe An province and the cooperative relationship with the UK in recent times.

Nghe An has the largest natural land area in the country with nearly 16,500 km², rich and diverse terrain, with sea, plains, midlands and mountains. Population of more than 3.4 million people, the fourth most populous in the country, of which about 1.9 million people are of working age and the proportion of skilled workers is quite high. Currently, Nghe An's economic scale is ranked 10th out of 63 provinces and cities of Vietnam with an economic growth rate of 7.14% in 2023. In particular, attracting FDI capital in 2023 reaching nearly 1.6 billion USD.In Nghe An province, there are 144 registered FDI projects with a total registered capital of 4.92 billion USD.

Regarding the results of cooperation and trade investment between Nghe An province and the UK, the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province said that currently, there is a project of a British investor with a total registered investment capital of 3.8 million USD in Nghe An.

In 2023, Nghe An's export turnover to the UK market reached 12.5 million USD, in the first 10 months of 2024 it is estimated to reach nearly 22 million USD. Import turnover from the UK market in 2023 reached 271 thousand USD, in the first 10 months of 2024 it reached 835,000 USD.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long also expressed his gratitude to the British Government for funding Nghe An province to build shelters for victims of human trafficking, thereby helping them reintegrate into the community; coordinating activities to prevent and combat human trafficking and promote safe migration; supporting projects to conserve biodiversity values ​​and support livelihoods for vulnerable communities in the core and buffer zones of Pu Mat National Park.

Comrade Bui Dinh Long further informed the working delegation that the prevention and combat of human trafficking is currently of interest to the Nghe An provincial government. To improve the effectiveness of human trafficking prevention and combat, the People's Committee of Nghe An province has issued a Plan to implement the Program to prevent and combat human trafficking crimes for the period 2021 - 2025, with a vision to 2030 in Nghe An province. At the same time, it directed the competent authorities to issue a Plan to implement the work of receiving and supporting victims of trafficking for the period 2021 - 2025, with a vision to 2030 in Nghe An province.

To specify the regulations on supporting victims of human trafficking, the People's Council of Nghe An province issued Resolution No. 04/2020/NQ-HDND dated July 22, 2020, stipulating a number of expenditure contents and levels for victim support work and support regime for victims of human trafficking crimes in Nghe An province.

In order to promote trade and investment between the UK and Nghe An, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long hopes that in the coming time, Mr. Ian Frew - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the UK to Vietnam will introduce and connect British businesses to invest in Nghe An.

Currently, Nghe An province has prepared planning, essential infrastructure, investment premises, human resources and is ready to support procedures to welcome British businesses to invest in areas such as: Manufacturing industry, production of materials, electronic components, financial services, banking; Attractive fields to meet the requirements of innovation, digital economy, green economy, circular economy, knowledge economy, sharing economy, climate change response economy, new energy, renewable energy for sustainable development.

Nghe An province pledges to always accompany and create favorable conditions for British businesses to invest successfully, sustainably and long-term in Nghe An.

In addition, the Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee also proposed to continue receiving support from the British Government in the work of preventing and combating human trafficking, cooperation in combating climate change, and education and training.

Thanking the warm welcome of the leaders of Nghe An province, Mr. Ian Frew - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to Vietnam expressed his joy at coming to Nghe An province, and at the same time sincerely thanked the leaders of Nghe An province for the very solemn welcome of the Ambassador and the working delegation.

Sharing and agreeing with the fields proposed by the leaders of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to Vietnam hopes that in the coming time, Nghe An enterprises will have cooperation with the United Kingdom in many fields, especially in the field of green energy. The Embassy has been and is continuing to be ready to create all necessary support conditions for enterprises to cooperate with each other.

In addition, Mr. Ian Frew hopes that the two sides will continue to cooperate and exchange information on preventing human trafficking, especially in the field of communication. The British Government wishes to carry out more communication projects in Nghe An province, targeting young people, youth unions, women, schools and relevant agencies.

The Ambassador also expressed his thanks to the provincial leaders and agencies for their coordination and support in implementing the project on preventing and combating human trafficking funded by the British Government in recent times.

The Ambassador also hopes that the two sides will develop cooperation in education. Not only supporting Vietnamese students to study in the UK, the British Government actively supports and connects universities in the UK to have joint programs in education, not only at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels but also other English teaching programs in Vietnam.

During 2 working days in Nghe An, the delegation of the British Embassy in Vietnam visited and worked with the Ethnic Boarding High School No. 2, Nghe An province.(in Vinh City); visited and worked with Pu Mat National Park (Con Cuong); attended a media event on safe migration and prevention of human trafficking at Do Luong 4 High School (Do Luong).