(VOVworld) – On Wednesday, Vietnam and the UK issued a joint statement following talks between Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and UK Prime Minister David Cameron in Hanoi.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung presided over a ceremony to welcome UK PM David Cameron's official visit to Vietnam on July 29th, 2015.

According to the statement, during the 2-day visit the two Prime Ministers agreed that economic cooperation will continue to be a priority and welcomed recent progress in negotiations on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, which should provide a major boost to trade and investment between Vietnam and the UK.

The leaders noted positive developments in bilateral security and defense cooperation, and agreed to create a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in defense, defense technology, officer and expert training for the Vietnamese Defense Ministry, and increased exchanges of security and defense delegations.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to continue cooperating to combat climate change, in particular coordinating ahead of and during COP 21 in Paris in 2015.

The two Prime Ministers discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern and reiterated their commitment to maintaining a rules-based order in the maritime domain based on the principles of international law, in particular as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, underlining the importance of peaceful dispute settlement and free and unimpeded lawful use of the world’s oceans. They also reaffirmed the importance of respecting and fully implementing the DOC signed in 2002 and the early conclusion of the regional COC in the East Sea.