Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) hosts UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State Dominic Raab (Photo: VNA)

The two promise to promote a high-level dialogue between their countries, deepen trade and investment ties, and pursue more open trade and investment through global and regional economic integration. They said they support an open, inclusive, and transparent trading system based on WTO rules. The two vowed to work together to finalize and put into practice a Bilateral Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the UK.

They agreed to promote cooperation in education and vocational training, continue bilateral defense cooperation, focus on UN peacekeeping activities, military medicine, training, and maritime security, including better law enforcement at sea, and cooperate in defense manufacturing, mapping, and hydrology.

Both underscored the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight, settling disputes via peaceful means without using or threatening to use force, and respecting international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Concluding the talks, the two issued a “Joint Declaration on the Vietnam-UK Strategic Partnership: Forging Ahead for Another 10 years”.