(VOVworld) – On Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son gave a speech on Vietnam’s international integration at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) during his visit to the UK to attend the  the fifth Vietnam-UK Strategic Dialogue. Son said international integration is the next step in the Renewal process, which was a turning-point in Vietnam’s development over the last 30 years.

According to the Deputy FM, Vietnam has set up strategic partnerships with 15 countries as well as comprehensive partnerships with 10 others. The country is also an active and responsible member with practical contributions to the international community, especially ASEAN, ASEM , the UN Human Rights Council and Security Council. Vietnam has signed 11 free trade agreements (FTAs) with its partners, including five in 2015. Son said that in its international integration and market-opening process, Vietnam always attaches importance to the role played by the UK and hopes for all-around cooperation with it. The UK is now one of Vietnam’s leading trade partners within the European Union. Two-way trade increased from 1.7 billion USD in 2009 to 5.4 billion USD in 2015. UK investors poured 4.6 billion USD into 216 projects in Vietnam over the five year period. Son said the two countries will work to realize priorities agreed by their leaders during UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Vietnam in July last year, which will focus on links in politics-strategy, defense-security, trade-investment, development, education-training, culture, science-technology, and labor.