Vietnamlawmagazine

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Lord Mayor of London David Lewis on March 4 witnessed the signing of deals worth around USD 1 billion between United Kingdom (UK) and Vietnamese businesses.

The deals, which were signed during Mr. Dung’s visit to the UK, included an agreement between PetroVietnam and the UK-based exploration and production company, Salamander, on cooperation in execution of projects in Laos; and an agreement between PetroVietnam and oil and gas company Soco International on cooperation in execution of projects in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Among other contracts signed, Standard Chartered Bank agreed to provide funding to Vietnam’s Industrial and Commercial Bank (Incombank) that would enable Incombank to achieve the minimum capital holdings required for equitization, while Bao Viet Group and Vietnam Machinery Installation Corporation (Lilama) signed agreements with HSBC Insurance and Mott MacDonald on training-technical assistance and training consultancy, respectively.

In his meeting with Mr. David Lewis, Prime Minister Dung said Vietnam hoped to receive support from UK financial institutions in the training of banking and financial professionals.

The country would continue to create favorable conditions for financial institutions to raise their effectiveness by licensing the establishment of wholly foreign-invested HSBC and Standard Chartered banks in Vietnam, the Prime Minister said.-